


"Straight Men Don't Know Words"

by thepoisonpills



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Paramore
Genre: Angst, Awkward Flirting, Basement Gerard Way, Catholic Frank Iero, Catholic School, Fluff, Frank is a good Catholic boy and Gerard is a witch, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, Happy Ending, High School, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mikey is an absolute himbo, Multi, Pining, Romantic Tension, Sexual Tension, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Witch Gerard Way, Witchcraft, but he's horrible at witchcraft and causes a bunch of problems, he was a witch he was a Catholic can I make it any more obvious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 59,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepoisonpills/pseuds/thepoisonpills
Summary: The Ways are witches.Although witches are known to be cool and goth, Gerard Way has spent most of his days brooding in his mother's basement since he graduated from his horribly Catholic high school three months ago. That is, until Mikey's new friend catches his eye and Gerard's attempts at mixing magic with a crush prove to be a little problematic.What? I never said he wasgoodat being a witch.
Relationships: Alicia Simmons/Mikey Way, Christa Toro/Ray Toro, Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Kristin Blanford/Mikey Way
Comments: 83
Kudos: 76





	1. Hecate

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my newest novel!
> 
> As always, this work is beta'd by the lovely [dangsu.](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dangsu) Check her out!
> 
> For the record, this story is set in California, not Jersey!
> 
> This fic is going to be very lighthearted with a few moments of angst, so don't worry about it breaking your heart or anything. A bit of Catholic guilt here and there but nothing too crazy. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> _He was a witch, he was a Catholic. Can I make it any more obvious?_  
>  _He was devout, he did spells and hexes. What more can I say?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hecate: Greek goddess of magic and witchcraft.

Gerard hadn’t meant to vanish his left nipple.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed a little too loudly, staring at his asymmetrical chest in the mirror. "What the fuck did I do now?!" 

Quickly, Gerard heard some shuffling down the stairs towards the basement, which he immediately identified as Mikey based on his footsteps. He predicted his younger brother's judgemental reaction right away, which this time, came in the form of a bored, "Oh God," approaching his bathroom door frame. However, Mikey's bored tone soon vanished once he laid eyes on Gerard's chest, which warranted the much more appropriate reaction of a yell vaguely sounding like, _"WHAT IN SATAN'S NAME HAPPENED TO YOUR NIPPLE?"_ in American English.

Gerard raised a hand defensively, "Listen, I know this looks bad."

"Bad?!" Mikey gaped at his brother, "That's the word you're going for?! Your fucking _nipple_ is _gone,_ dude." 

"I admit it looks a little worse than just 'bad,'" Gerard conceded. 

"Where… where did it _go?"_

The elder frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You can't just erase things from, like, space… and… shit..." Mikey trailed off, clearly struggling to find the right words. He put his bowl of cereal down on the bathroom counter and gesticulated clumsily in circles as if trying to express what he meant.

"Oh, you mean the space-time continuum?"

"Yeah, that," Mikey nodded carelessly. "You can't just erase stuff. You probably moved your nipple to… another place." He then asked, "What were you even trying to do?"

"I, uh..." Gerard scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I was trying to give myself a tattoo. I didn't want to actually go get one because, like… needles and shit, you know? So I figured I'd do a spell to put a tattoo on my skin," he recounted.

Mikey shot him an unamused glare but proceeded to investigate further, "Where was the tattoo meant to go?"

"On my back."

"Turn around," the younger instructed. When Gerard did so, he hummed, "Hm… yeah, you have a nipple on your back." Mikey poked at it with his index finger, "Can you feel that?"

"Not really, no," Gerard shook his head and turned back around to face his brother. "Does that mean you can just slice it off? If I can't feel it?"

"I am not going to cut off your back nipple, man," Mikey said, scrunching up his nose. "I know we're like, bros and shit, but we're not _this_ close." 

"We're _brothers."_

Mikey shot Gerard a confused look, "Yeah, that's what I just said." He picked up his bowl of cereal once again, stuffing his mouth with a spoonful before he suggested, "We need to, like... do a counter thpell." The younger swallowed down and continued, "If we cut off your back nipple, you will still just have one nipple on your chest. If we find a way to undo the spell, you can look… you know, _normal_ again."

"Right," Gerard nodded comprehensively. "So I need to do a spell for tattoo _removal_ then. I'll look in mom's books."

"Gerard… we should just talk to the High Priestess at this point."

The elder gasped, scandalized, "No way we're bringing this to the High Priestess."

"It's not about _this,_ it's about your fucking awful witchcraft, man," Mikey sassed. "Mom is one of the most talented witches in our coven and you're her _son._ How can you be so fucking _shit_ at doing witchcraft? I can't even remember the last time you did a spell… successfully."

Gerard crossed his arms, "I did a blessing just last week and nothing went awry."

Mikey frowned, "You were blessing Ray's dog, dude. Dogs are already blessed… because they're _dogs._ Especially one who's Ray's, of all people."

"Okay, you have a point. But this still isn't worth bothering Maria over."

"Of course it is!"

"Mikey, she's the High fucking Priestess, dude. You know what that means, right? She's _the most powerful witch in our coven,"_ Gerard emphasized. "Don't you think she has more important things to do than fix some eighteen-year-old's nipple?" 

"Remember when she kicked Adam out of the coven because he was being a psycho ex-boyfriend to you? Maria did that because it's her job to make sure we're doing well," Mikey argued back. "And I'm pretty sure that someone in our coven is going to _die_ if you don't fix your… vibes."

 _"Vibes?"_ Gerard grimaced, puzzled. "What the hell does that mean in proper witch language?"

"No clue, but in Mikey language it means _your witchcraft is wack, dude."_ The younger sibling took a deep breath before announcing, "Anyways, tomorrow I'm bringing a new friend over, so can you please avoid being a witch while he's here? I know we can be chill around Ray, but not this new guy, alright? He's like… Catholic and shit." 

Gerard looked at his brother in surprise, "You made a Catholic friend?"

"I go to Catholic _school,"_ Mikey said matter-of-factly. "Just like you did, too. I don't know why you're so surprised."

"Still don't know why mom did that. Witch hunters don't exist in this day and age. We don't need to worry about 'blending in' or whatever," Gerard scoffed dismissively. "Going to Catholic school only made me aware of how homophobia is still very much prevalent in today's youth."

"Okay, loser," Mikey rolled his eyes playfully. "Just bring Ray over tomorrow so you guys can go over mom's books to find a spell to undo…" he gave Gerard's chest a confused look once again, "... whatever the hell you did to your nipple. Also, you should wash your hair. Lose the greasy basement gremlin look. Maybe go outside too? Meet someone new, if you're feeling wild?" Mikey sassed.

Gerard sighed, "That sounds too stressful."

"I still think you should meet a guy," the younger suggested. "Or many guys, I don't know. I'm open minded like that. I don't judge."

Gerard shot his brother a crooked smile, bordering on bewildered, "Thanks... Mikey." 

"Anyways, I have college application shit to work on. Which, by the way, you should also start working on. Mom isn't gonna put up with you in her basement forever. Not if you're both out of school and without a job," Mikey commented, not snarkily but rather with genuine concern.

Gerard groaned, already annoyed at the topic before it had barely begun, "Mikey, I _told_ you. I haven't found my calling yet." 

"Well, I can tell you one thing. It's definitely not witchcraft."

"Don't you have shit to do?!" Gerard exclaimed, trying to cut the conversation there. 

Mikey caught on but conceded regardless, "Yeah, whatever. Remember what I said about my friend coming over tomorrow, okay?" He repeated his earlier message, "No witchcraft while he's here. I don't want you to accidentally give him rabies or swap his hands with his feet or something crazy like that. Just research the counter spell with Ray, got it?"

Gerard felt a little strange being lectured by his younger sibling yet agreed nevertheless, "Got it."

"Good," Mikey said curtly before taking himself and his cereal bowl out of Gerard's basement room and up the staircase. 

The elder didn't watch him go, instead focusing on his own reflection again. Of course, his left nipple was still missing. As a last minute decision, however, Gerard thought to yell at his brother before he vanished from earshot, "Hey Mikey?!" he called out quickly. "You should lose the tank top, you know!"

"And you should lose your _virginity,_ nerd!" Mikey shot back from the staircase, making Gerard laugh to himself as he continued examining his chest in the mirror, wondering how on earth he'd fix his mistake.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Ray frowned down at the open book in front of him, puzzled. "What herb are we missing from this, uh, spell?" he asked Gerard, who sat on the other side of the room at his desk chair.

The two boys were almost done figuring out the spell that would undo Gerard's tattoo misadventures from the previous afternoon. The only thing missing was a final herb, which Ray figured out from one of Mrs. Ways' books would ideally be some form of cleansing herb; Ray Toro was not a witch, but had an incredible talent for figuring out spells and potions - such that he might as well have been one. He'd already drawn the proper symbols on the left side of Gerard's chest, where they'd be summoning his nipple to return, and there was just that one, pesky cleansing herb evading the two boys.

Although Gerard already had something in mind for the spell, he couldn't help but feel a little hesitant about using his knowledge in witchcraft, considering how utterly shit most of his spells ended up being. "I think it's rosemary," he suggested casually, as if he didn't put too much faith in his statement.

Ray pursed his lips and held his chin contemplatively from where he sat on Gerard's bed, "Are you sure it isn't sage?"

"Erm, no I'm not sure." Gerard sighed tiredly, "Am I ever sure when it comes to spellcasting?"

"You know, maybe that's why your witchcraft doesn't work. Because you don't believe in it."

"I don't believe in it because it doesn't work. It's a vicious cycle."

Ray clicked his tongue after thinking for a few moments, "Why don't you start with smaller, simple spells, so you can build more confidence in your craft? Mikey doesn't fuck up his spells and he's not even that smart. He just does them instead of overthinking about them constantly; he doesn't doubt himself. You probably know more complex spells than him anyway. Think, when would Mikey ever attempt a tattoo spell?"

Gerard laughed at the mere thought of Mikey trying such complicated witchcraft, "Never. He mostly does good luck charms so the Dodgers can win whatever game they're playing at the time."

"See? It's simple and confident magic. Maybe that's why it works more often than yours."

"But how do I get the confidence of a heterosexual idiot without being a heterosexual idiot?" Gerard asked Ray, mostly as a rhetorical question - not really expecting a real answer.

The other boy shook his head from side to side, "Well, it's what I said before. Reward yourself massively for doing the bare minimum. That's what society does for heterosexual idiots, isn't it?"

Gerard smiled, "You know, for a straight guy, you have incredible self-awareness."

"Thanks," Ray nodded happily, seeming to genuinely be flattered by the compliment. "Anyways," he quickly got back to the issue at hand, "does your mom have any books on cleansing herbs?"

"Hm..." Gerard thought about it for a few moments, "... she keeps all of her books on herbs and crystals upstairs in the living room. If she has any on cleansing herbs they're near the TV."

"Do you wanna get one or will you just wait till she gets home to ask her what herb she thinks is right?"

Gerard briefly contemplated it and quickly decided it'd just be better to grab a book from upstairs. He had no idea when his mother would be home today, as there was a coven meeting happening that could go on well into the evening, so waiting for her could be a complete waste of time. "I'll just look for a book. Probably won't take long."

Ray shut the book he previously had open, _Working With Plants And Herbs,_ handing it over to Gerard, "You mind returning this while you're at it?" He stretched over the bed to grab Mrs. Ways' copy of _Symbols and Sigils,_ "And this one too."

"Yeah, sure," Gerard nodded, taking the two books in hand and getting up from his desk chair.

Ray shot him an alarmed look, "Wait, you're going like _that?!"_ he asked, referring to Gerard's bare chest, which had a circle-enclosed pentagram drawn on where his left nipple was meant to be. 

"I'm just going for a little book run, what's the problem? Besides, it's hot."

"Pft, alright," Ray shrugged indifferently. 

Gerard shrugged back and began making his way upstairs, not exactly expecting much out of the errand. He grabbed onto the doorframe and lightly swung himself into the room. However, an unusual sight stopped Gerard right in his tracks as he waltzed into the living area.

There was a boy. In his living room. 

"You're a boy," he intelligently told the strange boy before he could do anything to stop the words coming out of his mouth. "And you're in my living room."

Gerard mentally kicked himself as he watched the boy look up at him. For a few brief moments the two of them just stared at each other, fully still. The first thing Gerard noticed about this boy was that he was… pretty cute - actually, scrap that, he was _incredibly_ cute. He had wide brown eyes, like shiny dark pearls, as if Gerard had a pair of marbles staring back at him. 

Almost in perfect sync, the two boys tore their eyes away from each other's faces and looked down towards each other's chests - where Gerard had a pentagram drawn in place of his left nipple, and the other mysterious boy wore a cross, front and center below his neck from where it stood out above the top two undone buttons of his dress shirt. Gerard held his mother's books to his chest then, like a shield protecting him from the inopportune situation.

The other boy suddenly cleared his throat, forcing their eyes to meet again, and he looked as if he'd changed his mind last minute about what he was about to say, because he opened his mouth once but quickly shut it again. After a few seconds of awkward silence, the strange boy blurted out a haphazard, "Yeah, I am both of those things," passing the conversation back over to Gerard.

Thankfully, before Gerard could say anything to embarrass himself further - for the meantime, at least - Mikey walked into the living room, two glasses of water in hand and an incredibly puzzled look on his face. "What are you doing here?" the younger asked Gerard, eyeing him like he wanted the elder to leave right about now.

"I came to get a book," Gerard responded, still watching the boy on the other side of the room, who looked mildly uncomfortable on the couch.

Mikey handed a glass over to the other boy and placed the other on the coffee table, where Gerard saw two blue ties splayed over the dark wood. He immediately recognized the ties as being from his former high school.

 _Oh._ This was the friend Mikey mentioned the previous night. 

Just great. This cute guy was a _Catholic._

"This is my brother, Gerard," Mikey told the boy on the couch, sounding incredibly displeased about the two of them meeting. He watched them tensely, nervous yet quiet, almost as if he was curious to see how this situation would play out.

The other boy placed his glass of water on the coffee table and got up from where he sat, extending a hand out to Gerard, "Uh, hey Gerard. I'm Frank."

Gerard shot him a lopsided grin, taking his hand and shaking it clumsily, "Hey Frank, I'm Gerard." Upon shaking Frank's hand, Gerard immediately dropped the two books he held under his arm. He flinched as they fell, the hard covers making twin obnoxious thuds as they hit the ground. Gerard briefly hoped Frank would do that nice meet-cute thing from high school movies where the hot love interest picks up the clumsy main character's books as they share intimate looks, but instead, the other boy simply watched him scramble to pick up them up, appearing to be equally unnerved by the encounter. 

Once he picked up the books, Gerard opted to just toss them on the coffee table, muttering a short, "Sorry," before he bolted out of the living room, heading straight towards the basement.

"Ray, there is a guy in my living room," he announced once he was within the safe confines of his room.

Ray furrowed his eyebrows, "What?"

"There's a guy in my living room," Gerard repeated.

"No, I heard _that_ part," Ray sassed. "I was hoping you'd give more details, dude."

"Well, uh," Gerard stuttered, lowering his voice, "there's a, uh… hot Catholic boy in my living room. How's that for details?" he whispered angrily.

Ray laughed amusedly. "Oh," he smirked. "Hot Catholic boy. I see."

"Ray, this is serious!" Gerard stomped crankily on the carpeted floor of his bedroom. "Hot Catholic boy is _not_ good! Did I mention, hot Catholic _straight_ boy?!"

 _"Straight?"_ Ray raised an eyebrow, "You never know..." 

"He's friends with Mikey. What non-heterosexual guy in their right mind would be friends with Mikey? He doesn't even know Lady Gaga and Madonna are different people."

Ray shook his head thoughtfully, "Maybe _that's_ why he'd be friends with Mikey. If he goes to Catholic school, befriending the most violently heterosexual guy on the planet might be a defense mechanism."

"I got a good look at him, Ray," Gerard argued back. "He's straight."

"Wait," Ray suddenly looked worried, "you guys met?! Gerard, you have a _pentagram_ on your chest!"

"The pentagram is a symbol of the 5 Elements," Gerard said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, to _you,_ witch!" Ray shoved his hands into his hair in distress. "For a random Catholic schoolboy it's _Satanic."_ He sighed, "God, what are you gonna do now?"

"I'll just pretend our last encounter never happened and move on with my life like we never met."

As if on cue, Gerard then heard a pair of footsteps make their way down the stairs leading into his bedroom. They were definitely not Mikey's or his mother's - these steps were lighter, like they belonged to someone not only shorter, but less confident. 

Frank.

_Fuck._

"He's coming down here!" Gerard whispered in panic. "The fuck do I do now?!"

Ray rapidly scanned the room and picked up a random shirt, tossing it to the other boy, "Put a motherfucking shirt on! And act natural!"

Gerard rushed to put it on. "Act natural, got it."

"Gerard, you put your shirt on backwa-"

"Hi, Frank," Gerard greeted as casually as possible, interrupting whatever Ray was about to say. He soon thought to add, "Or was it Fred? Franco?" to sound even cooler. Yeah. That was totally cool. 

"Frank," the other boy confirmed, shooting Gerard a tight-lipped smile along with a curt nod. "I just, uh… I came to return your books?" Frank raised his arm to reveal the two books Gerard had left upstairs. "I thought they looked kind of important so maybe you'd want them back. You looked distraught about dropping them."

"Right! You can just, uh, put them on my desk," Gerard motioned towards his desk where he had other books and miscellaneous items spread out in messy piles.

Frank did so, placing the books carefully on the desk on an empty spot by some CDs. Gerard was already expecting this to be the end of their encounter, as he didn't exactly know how to strike up a conversation with the other boy. This, in combination with Frank's obviously Catholic faith, made it all the more shocking when the shorter boy picked up the CD on the top of the pile, grinning at Gerard as he said, "No way, you like The Smashing Pumpkins?" 

It took Gerard a few seconds to recalibrate just about every neuron in his brain upon hearing those words, but once he did, he returned Frank's smile and nodded excitedly, "Yeah! I love them!" 

Frank then looked at the next CD on the pile, picking it up too and once again shooting Gerard an approving look, "Holy crap, you like Hole too?"

"Yes!" Gerard nodded so vibrantly he swore his head would fly off his neck. "Celebrity Skin is such a classic." He couldn't believe his luck - this adorable guy had an amazing taste in music. 

"I concur," Frank said with a shy smile, tearing his eyes off the albums and now focusing on Gerard. "You own the CDs..." he observed. "I don't know many people who still like owning music. I have a mixture of CDs and vinyls at home and most people call me crazy."

"No way!" Gerard opinionated, "Music is great regardless, but owning the physical stuff..." 

"Is so much better!" the two boys said in unison, grinning brightly at one another.

After a brief pause, Gerard thought to play it cool again and throw out a casual, "So, uh, you come here often?"

Frank frowned, "I've never been to your house before."

Fuck. Okay, that definitely wasn't the proper thing to ask. Gerard could still salvage this conversation, right? "I mean, like… here as in, like… L.A.," he stumbled. "I went to Saint Agnes and I don't remember seeing you there, that's all." Phew, that was a good save. Gerard mentally patted himself on the back for that one.

"Oh, no. I just joined. I actually only arrived in California near the end of the summer. I'm from Jersey originally," Frank informed.

"What brought you to California? That's a long way from Jersey."

"My father's military." Frank shrugged, "We've moved around a lot."

 _"Military."_ Gerard laughed nervously, "And you're Catholic. That's just… great."

"It's..." Frank pouted his lips, as if he didn't want to say anything negative, but was definitely not in the mood to lie. "It's… meh," he eventually said. "There are good and bad things, I suppose. Just like there is to everything."

"The universe does tend towards balance," Gerard commented absentmindedly. However, as soon as he realized that was probably a witchy thing to say, he added, "You know, thermodynamics. And stuff." That probably made him sound like a massive nerd, but whatever. Gerard figured that in the eyes of a Catholic, being into physics was probably better than being into witchcraft.

Surprisingly, Frank agreed, "Yeah! Like… entropy!"

"Yeah..." Gerard smiled timidly, "... like entropy."

It was then that Ray inhaled sharply, as if reminding the other two boys that he was still very much _there._ Frank was the first to break free from the conversation, telling Gerard, "I should, uh… head back upstairs. Mikey's waiting for me."

Gerard didn't get another word in before Frank put his CDs where they belonged and shuffled out of his room, leaving behind a silent space as he left. For a few moments, his absence was all Gerard sensed in his bedroom, until Ray scoffed from where he sat on the other boy's bed.

"Congrats, man. You played it real motherfucking cool."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

It is a known fact that a teenager is always in the mindset to fuck with an older sibling given the opportunity.

Which is precisely why that night, when Donna joined Mikey and Gerard for dinner, the younger was absolutely _thrilled_ when he sat down at the family table. Mikey shot Gerard impish looks intermittently as they ate, waiting for an opening to reveal to their mom Gerard's earlier blunders. When Mrs. Way put her fork and knife down, signaling the end of her meal, Mikey was quick to start the conversation.

"So, mom..." he said to Donna, still looking mischievously at his brother. "Guess what? _Gerard has a crush,"_ Mikey sang teasingly.

The older gasped, "I do not!"

"Darling..." Donna raised her eyebrows. "Is that true?" she asked Gerard, curious.

Mikey responded for him, "It so is! I brought my new friend Frank over and Gerard definitely likes him!"

"Whatever," Gerard quickly disregarded. "It doesn't even matter... because he's straight."

"Frank is _not_ straight," Mikey stated with absolute confidence.

"How do you know that?" Gerard wondered, intrigued by his certainty.

"Easy," the younger said as if he were stating the obvious, "Frank knows words. Straight men don't know words."

His mother shot him a disapproving glare, "Mikey, dear, that's a stereotype. I've told you already that perpetuating stereotypes is a bad thing. Maybe your brother is right; Frank might be straight. It _is_ the most statistically likely case."

"Well, stereotypes have to come from _somewhere!"_ Mikey argued, "Also, when's the last time a straight man started a sentence with 'therefore'? Frank knows a bunch of fancy words. He talks like Gerard."

"Mikey. _He's straight,"_ Gerard assured, feeling sure in his conviction.

The younger groaned, "God, how are you this much of a gay disaster?"

 _"Michael James,"_ Donna said sternly, "don't be homophobic towards your brother."

"My problem isn't that he's gay, it's that he's just so frickin' bad at it!" Mikey exclaimed, slamming a hand onto the table in indignation. "He's not even gay in practice, mom! He's just gay, like… in his head!" he pointed out, gesticulating angrily as if he truly were outraged by how bad of a homosexual his brother was.

Gerard raised a finger, "That's not true! I _am_ going to do something about Frank."

"Oh God," Mikey suddenly looked scared, "please don't say it's witchcraft."

"Michael, don't discourage your brother from pursuing witchcraft. You know being a witch is all about exercising your personal freedom. If Gerard wishes to cast a spell, he should be given the appropriate resources and liberty to try it out. In fact, you should employ some of his experimentalism in your own craft," Donna lectured calmly, mediating the discussion between the two siblings.

"But _mom,"_ Mikey whined, "if he casts a spell on Frank, he's probably gonna… you know… curse him. If he tries love magic, Frank will probably wake up tomorrow with an STD or something."

Donna considered it, partly agreeing with Mikey, "Well, he might want to try something small at first." She turned to Gerard, "Why don't you try a simple candle spell to begin with?"

 _"Pft,_ since when does Gerard do simple magic?"

"I have books on love spells. I think there's a book on Aphrodite magic somewhere in the study..." the older woman said, ignoring Mikey's snide remark. "Just make sure to start with something small, alright?"

"Alright," Gerard nodded. 

"Gerard Arthur Way," Donna abruptly took on a serious tone as she told her eldest son, _"you will start with simple magic._ Small charms and candle spells, alright? No complex spells, or God forbid, any potions. Promise?"

Gerard rolled his eyes, "Yes, mom. I promise."

Although Gerard knew his mother was right, he had absolutely no intentions of following through with his promise. 

Because _this time,_ he'd make his spells work.

… right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, you should read my completed novel [Bad Romance.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25136302) It's a high school enemies to lovers AU with LOADS of drama. I'm also wrapping up a ficlet called [A Different Time,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25958536) which is just a little afterlife AU. 
> 
> Anyways, what did we think of that?! I'm SO excited for this fic <3 also I would die for himbo Mikey. Mikey and Gerard in this fic have 'olga foroga" Diego and Luther vibes and I love it
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> \- Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	2. Fortuna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fortuna: Roman goddess of luck and fortune.

“So, what was it in the end?”

“Huh?” Gerard asked, quickly snapping out of his daze.

Ray pressed on, “The herb. Your nipple is back in place so I'm guessing you figured out the counter spell.”

“Oh, right. It was rosemary,” Gerard recounted absentmindedly. “And I didn't figure it out,” he mumbled, “my mom did.”

Ray frowned at his friend, “What’s got you all thoughtful today? You're barely talking to me.” He tilted his head to the side contemplatively, “Is it the Catholic boy?”

Gerard sighed in melancholy, “Unfortunately, yes.” 

“You gonna do anything about him?” 

“I'm working on a spell right now, actually,” Gerard confessed. “I'm just considering how I'm gonna make it work.”

Ray appeared apprehensive yet willing to listen. “What spell?”

“Well, I don’t want to just cast a spell to make him fall in love with me because I think that’s a little unfair, you know? I don't know the exact moral implications of that but I'm pretty sure they aren't positive.” Gerard explained, “So I decided that I'll do spells that’ll just facilitate the process of us hanging out. Hopefully that’ll just… let our feelings grow organically. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Ray nodded. “So what you're saying is that you won't make the Christian boy fall in love with you, you'll just… put him in situations where he might?” 

“Mhm,” Gerard hummed.

“So what exactly are you planning?”

“I'm thinking something like two spells in one. One of the spells would bring him here. Well, it’s more like it'll make him more likely to come here more often. Then the other one would just give me luck. So it’s more like I'm blending a spell with a small good luck charm.”

Ray looked hesitant about this plan, “Listen, I'm no witch, but I'm pretty sure you aren't meant to just blend spells.”

“Ideally, no, you're not,” Gerard admitted. 

“Why don't you just do one and then the other?” Ray suggested. “That’d probably make them more likely to work.”

Gerard rolled his eyes, “Yeah, but if I blend the good luck charm into the other spell, that’d tie my luck to Frank’s presence. Instead of just giving me general luck, it’d give me luck directly related to Frank. Does that make sense? Kind of like how Mikey ties his good luck charms to the Dodgers.”

“But that's something non-magical. Does it make a difference?” Ray wondered. “Like, the Dodgers are just a baseball team and as a whole don't really have… magical energy. Tying the charm to them isn't that hard. But tying the charm to another spell must be harder.”

“The process is more delicate, yeah,” Gerard confirmed. 

“You know, I never thought I’d say this, but I think Mikey has a point. You should talk to the High Priestess lady about your witchcraft,” Ray suggested kindly but confidently. “Isn't she supposed to be, like, the best witch in the coven? I'm guessing she must have _something_ to say. Something that could really help you out, y’know?”

Gerard took a deep breath, “This isn't worth her time.” 

“I think it is, dude.” 

“Whatever,” the raven-haired boy said dismissively. “You gonna tell me my vibes are wack too?”

“I don't think I have it in me to unironically use ‘wack’ as an adjective in any sentence, regardless of context,” Ray laughed. “Anyways, we have the whole afternoon free. Is there anything we need to do?” 

“I do need sage and some other stuff. Do you think we could go to the market?”

Ray shrugged, “Nothing else to do. Might as well, I guess."

"Should we walk?" Gerard asked. "Mom's away and Mikey took the other car." He took the Black Flag shirt draped over his desk chair and slipped it on.

"It's so hot outside, dude," Ray complained, fanning himself to make his point clear. "We'll look like weirdos if we get to the grocery store all sweaty and gross."

"It might give people the illusion that we enjoy exercise," Gerard observed. "Besides, what else are we gonna do? Get an Uber? To go somewhere that's not even a mile away? We can walk, it'll be fine." 

It was not fine.

By the time the two friends arrived at the grocery store, their shirts were visibly drenched in sweat. They groaned in unison once they walked into the pleasantly air-conditioned market, where Ray didn't miss a beat before whining in a high pitched nasal voice, _"We can walk, it'll be fine!"_ obviously mocking Gerard. 

Gerard rolled his eyes before he grabbed a small shopping cart, signaling for Ray to follow him into the herb section. He immediately picked out some basil leaves and tossed them in the cart. While he was there, Gerard figured he'd also grab some spearmint and coriander as his mother used those herbs quite frequently in her spells, even if Gerard himself didn't use them often. "If you see sage around here, you can just toss it in the cart. Shouldn't be too far from where we are..." he told Ray thoughtfully.

Sure enough, Ray was the one to spot the sage first, holding a batch of leaves up to Gerard as if waiting for his approval. When he nodded, Ray tossed the leaves into the shopping cart and proceeded to ask, "Anything else we need?"

"We could just grab some stuff to snack on." 

Gerard leaned on the shopping cart and began pushing it across the store, going down the nearest aisle with fruity snacks. He opted to grab a few bags of Sour Patch Kids as he and Ray devoured those whenever they watched movies, which seemed like a viable direction for their evening to go in. In fact, Gerard was about to consider grabbing yet another pack of Sour Patch when Ray leaned in closely, grabbing Gerard's shoulder with urgency.

"Dude," Ray whispered, "I'm gonna show you something, but you have to promise not to freak out."

"Uh..." Gerard shot him a confused glare, "why would I freak out in a grocery store?"

The other boy pursed his lips and pointed somewhere behind Gerard, where a short dark-haired boy wearing Catholic school uniform stood in front of a large shopping cart, quite a few feet ahead of their aisle at the fresh produce section. He appeared to be rather bored as he shoved a handful of apples into a plastic bag, clearly not having spotted Ray or Gerard just yet.

"Fuck!" Gerard whispered back at Ray once he spotted the boy. "It's Frank! What the fuck do I do?"

"You are aware that you could just talk to him, right?" Ray threw out casually, not appearing to be nearly as panicked as Gerard about the situation. "You know, approach him, say _'wow, Frank, what a coincidence that we go to the same grocery store!'_ and then strike up some conversation. Like regular human beings do?"

However, before Gerard could consider following through with this line of action, Frank turned around slightly to grab at some oranges, now just barely missing Ray and Gerard from his field of vision. See, at this point Gerard could have taken the civilized route and approached the other boy, but Gerard _didn't_ take the civilized route, instead opting to take a sharp U-turn with his cart and dash straight towards the end of the aisle, hiding behind a rack of chips and breathing nervously.

He could hear the disappointment in Ray's footsteps as he approached not in Gerard's panicked frenzy but rather in a calm, collected manner. "What was I saying about striking up a conversation with him?"

"What do I even say?" Gerard asked harshly. "Besides, I'm all sweaty and disgusting."

"Just mention how much of a coincidence it is that you guys go to the same grocery store and hopefully the conversation will evolve from there. Also, didn't you say something about creating the illusion of fitness earlier?"

"Actually, I know what I'll do," Gerard said, completely ignoring Ray's suggestion. "I'll recite an incantation."

 _"You're doing magic?!"_ Ray inquired, now sounding multiple levels of concerned.

Gerard smiled, "Just a simple little incantation for good luck. It'll be fine."

"You have to understand that after what you pulled on the way here, when I hear you say the words 'it'll be fine,' I'm not exactly inclined to believe you," Ray commented sardonically. "Just have a normal conversation with him; you don't need witchcraft. You know you're a perfectly likable person as you are, right?" he lectured. "Yesterday you didn't use magic while talking to him and he seemed to like you just fine."

"That's the _problem,_ Ray!" Gerard whispered empathically. "He _only_ likes me just fine." 

Ray shook his head from side to side, "That seems like an alright place to start in my opinion."

"Just talk to him while I mumble my incantation. Distract him," Gerard ordered, once again ignoring Ray's admittedly more intelligent suggestions. "It won't take long, I promise. It's a very short incantation." 

Ray sighed annoyedly but still followed Gerard down the aisle as they approached Frank, who luckily was still at the produce section, now weighing a bag of fruit. He made sure to tell Gerard, "You need to invite him to hang out because I don't know how much third-wheeling I can handle," before they themselves arrived at the produce section.

"Frank!" Gerard called out, waiting for the other boy to turn to face him before he pointed out, "You're at the grocery store."

Despite the strange greeting, Frank nodded, "Yeah!" He then smiled cheekily, "Do you make a habit of telling people where they are or do you just do that to me?"

Gerard felt his stomach drop, "What?!"

Frank laughed a little awkwardly, "Oh, nothing, it's just that you did the same thing to me when we met yesterday." The shorter boy scratched the back of his neck. "Thought it was funny you did the same thing today."

"Right!" Gerard smiled in return. "It's nice to see you again," he offered his right hand out in a handshake, hoping Frank would accept it. When he did, Gerard held on tightly to his hand as he continued talking, "This is Ray," he motioned towards the other boy next to him, "he's my best friend."

"Oh, hi Ray," Frank shot him a polite smile. 

"Hey," Ray only gave him a casual wave in return, not seeming too invested in the interaction himself. However, when Gerard shot him a venomous glare, Ray cleared his throat and started up a conversation with the shorter boy, "So, uh, Frank, how are you liking California so far?"

"It's alright! The people here are definitely more welcoming than in my Jersey town." Frank then frowned slightly, "It's really hot, though. I'm not used to this weather yet."

Gerard sighed in relief once he realized the two of them were getting into a conversation and wasted no further time before he began mumbling the incantation, holding Frank's hand tightly in his own as he recited.

_The winds of change I feel tonight.  
The waters are calm and the sky is bright._

He took a short pause to check that they were still talking and continued once he heard Ray saying something about how dry it was in L.A. Gerard rushed through the rest of the incantation, not wanting to hold Frank's hand for so long he'd feel weirded out.

_Luck be mine, come into me.  
My desires are true, so mote it be._

"Gerard, you were saying something?" Frank turned to Gerard as he let go of his hand, watching Gerard's face as if looking for an answer somewhere in it. 

"Oh, nothing important! Just going through my shopping list. You know, checking if I missed anything."

Gerard mentally patted himself on the back for the smooth recovery.

"Right," Frank nodded courteously. "I was just telling Ray how this is so different from the other cities I've lived in. Well, those other cities were Miami and Columbus, so it's not exactly a high bar set," he chuckled.

"You lived in Florida?!" Gerard asked incredulously. "And… Ohio? God, I see why you like California now." He soon realized he made the mistake of using the Lord's name in vain around Frank, but it was far too late to fix his mistake now. Luckily though, the shorter boy didn't draw any attention to it and that was good enough for Gerard.

"Yeah. Columbus was more of a skeleton of a city rather than an actual city and Miami was just too hot and humid," Frank grimaced. "It just felt really gross all the time. And don't even get me started on how traveling in-state just consisted of Disney World and… swamps. And there are mosquitoes and fire ants everywhere?!" He then shook his head, almost as if trying to wake himself up, "Sorry I'm rambling, I just really hated living there. I preferred living in the middle of nowhere up in Maine."

Gerard couldn't help but laugh at how passionately Frank hated Florida - it seemed like he was almost traumatized from the experience of living there. "Well, I'm glad you're somewhere you like now. There's, like, so much to do in Cali."

"Yeah! It's always been my dream to visit Alcatraz Island," Frank's eyes glittered brightly as he mentioned this, like it truly had been his childhood dream. 

Gerard clicked his tongue thoughtfully, "That's all the way up in NorCal, though..."

 _"NorCal?"_ Frank frowned at the unfamiliar term. 

"Oh, that's Northern California for you. You know, San Francisco, Berkeley, Sacramento, etcetera. L.A. is in SoCal, like San Diego, Santa Barbara... you get it," Gerard quickly explained. "Mikey hasn't been catching you up in California slang?"

"Not at all."

"Hey, uh, I don't mean to interrupt," Ray hesitantly chimed in. "But, uh… I'll go ring up our stuff while you guys talk, alright?" He shot Gerard one last knowing smile before making his way to the cashier, leaving the two boys alone. 

Gerard soon got back on topic, "I can't believe Mikey hasn't taught you any California slang."

"Well," Frank smirked, "I've noticed some things on my own. Like, how you guys totally use the words 'like' and 'totally' excessively. I feel like that's all I need to know."

Ouch. Now _that_ was a read.

"Wish I could argue against that."

Frank suddenly took on a serious tone, “But wait, were you serious about Alcatraz Island being far away? My father told me we could go on a weekend trip there. Isn't it like a six hour drive?”

“A weekend trip?!” Gerard felt positively offended by this suggestion. “Absolutely not! I mean, you _could_ make it a weekend trip, but it’s a total disservice to the drive there! There’s so many beautiful stops along the highway, you need to take, like, a whole week!” 

_"Oh!"_ Frank nodded in understanding. "It's an exceptional road trip, then." He then took on a concerned expression, "My father definitely can't take a whole week off work, though."

Gerard gave him a sympathetic tight-lipped smile, "I'm sure you'll go sometime. Don't stress it too much."

“Thanks,” Frank said politely. “I think I should get going now. My mom must be worried I've been gone so long. Sorry to cut this so short.”

Gerard felt a pinch of disappointment at this but had to be comprehensive. “Don't worry about it!”

“Do you want me to give you guys a ride home?” Frank offered. “You look like you need one and I drove here.” 

Now, Gerard might’ve been a little dumb sometimes, but he wasn’t _stupid._ At least not to the point of declining a ride from a hot guy offering him one. The only issue at hand was how to not appear overly enthusiastic about getting said ride from said hot guy. In the end, Gerard opted to throw out a casual, “That’d be great,” feeling pleased at how cool he was playing it right now.

“Alright, I'll just pay for my stuff.”

Ray was not very pleased about the drive home. Sure, it was better than walking under the scalding Southern California sun, but as Ray would later put it, third wheeling a pair of excitable teens subtly flirting with each other got “real tiring real quick.” Gerard couldn't exactly blame him, as he and Frank shared a rapid-fire conversation about Nirvana’s album Nevermind for almost the entire ride. 

At one point near the end of the drive, Frank asked, “Hey, do you like Bowie?”

Gerard gasped in excitement, _”Like?!_ I fucking _love_ Bowie!” He grinned so wide he could've sworn he’d torn his face muscles, “You know... you have good taste, Catholic boy.”

Frank tore his eyes off the road for a split second to make eye contact with the other boy as he smiled sweetly. “Thank you,” he mumbled shyly.

“You know, Frank…” Gerard started, suddenly remembering what Ray told him at the supermarket as he felt his eyes boring into the back of his head, likely annoyed about ‘third-wheeling’. “You should come over sometime.”

“I _do_ come over sometime already. I was at your house just yesterday,” Frank responded cleverly, a smirk painting his face. 

Gerard groaned, “Come on! You know what I mean.”

“I do,” Frank admitted with an indifferent shrug. “I just want to hear you say that you want to hang out with me.”

 _Holy shit._ Was Gerard interpreting this situation correctly? 

Had… had his incantation _worked…?_

He opted to just concede, now curious to find out if Frank had anything else to say. _”Fine,”_ he said playfully. “So what? Maybe I do want to hang out with you. You have good music taste and seem clever.”

“And you…” Frank turned around to face Gerard, staring at his face intently and letting a dramatic pause settle in before he completed, “... are home.”

Gerard was so preoccupied with Frank’s eyes focusing so fiercely on his face that he forgot to interpret the words the boy had actually spoken. “What?” he asked, dumbfounded.

Frank broke the tension between them with an abrupt lighthearted laugh. He nodded towards somewhere behind Gerard, “That’s your house, isn't it?”

“Oh!” Gerard blushed and scrambled to grab his shopping bags off the floor once he checked that he was in fact home. “Yeah! Thanks for the ride, Frank!” 

“No problem..?” Frank answered, now appearing confused by Gerard’s sudden rush. 

Ray followed suit once he saw his friend was indeed getting out of the car, shortly telling Frank, “Thanks,” before stepping outside into the sidewalk. Once he caught up with Gerard, he leaned in to whisper, "He was _so_ hitting on you!" just as Frank was out of earshot.

Before the two boys could enter the Way residence, however, a voice called from the road, "Gerard!" 

When he turned to look, Gerard saw Frank had rolled down the window by the passenger seat and was leaning over the seat, smiling at him. "Nice shirt," he stated simply. The dark-haired boy looked down at Gerard's faded Black Flag shirt approvingly one final time before rolling the passenger window back up, soon driving off into the afternoon street. 

While Gerard took a moment to reorganize just about all of his thoughts, he watched Frank's car disappear into the city, trying to understand what the hell had just happened.

"Dude!" Ray bumped his shoulder excitedly. "He just did it again!"

Gerard briefly considered the possibility that he was secretly good at witchcraft.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

"Gerard, I am going to fucking _kill_ you!"

Gerard stopped halfway through casting his protection spell, startled by the harsh yell coming from the staircase leading into his bedroom. Soon enough, Mikey stormed into the basement, looking… positively mad. Mikey wasn't an easily irritable person, which made Gerard feel only slightly panicked as something was _clearly_ wrong.

Mikey spotted the salt circle around his older brother and asked, "Did you start the spell already?"

"Uh, no, I only did the protect-"

Before Gerard could even finish his sentence, Mikey approached the circle and kicked off as much salt as possible into the air, rendering the protection ring useless. 

"What the fuck Mikey?!"

"What spell did you cast on Frank?!" the younger sibling asked harshly, ignoring Gerard's protests and crossing his arms.

Gerard frowned, "Nothing besides a little luck incantation yesterday. Why? What's going on?"

Mikey took a deep calming breath and exclaimed, "Everything! Literally everything!" He recounted, "Frank arrived at school late because he overslept. Apparently his alarm didn't go off. Then, he spilled coffee all over his shirt, and when he put on his spare shirt, the top two buttons popped off. Later, we were playing dodgeball in gym and he got hit in the face with a ball so hard I think he flew back, like, three feet dude!"

The elder quickly realized what was going on, _"Oh no."_

"I didn't even tell you the worst part," Mikey remarked. "Frank just called me from the hospital, because after he got home from school, he fell down the stairs and _broke his arm."_

"You're joking," Gerard gaped.

The younger shook his head sincerely, "No."

"Oh my God, Mikey..." Gerard brought a hand to his mouth which still stood agape. "Instead of giving myself good luck, I think I gave Frank bad luck. _Fuck."_

Okay, maybe it was time for Gerard to reevaluate his previous conclusion about being secretly good at witchcraft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh. The problems have started.
> 
> So, what did we think guys? I had so much fun writing this chapter. Gerard is such a gay disaster lol
> 
> I'm high asf while I post this and I'm super paranoid about it being a piece of garbage
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> \- Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	3. Bastet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bastet: Egyptian cat goddess of protection, motherhood, music, and the arts. Later associated with the Greek goddess Artemis.

Gerard felt like absolute shit looking at Frank's left arm in a cast. "I'm so sorry about your arm, man."

The shorter boy smiled politely, "It's alright," he quickly took a sip of water before placing the glass back on the bedside table. "It wasn't your fault."

_Ouch._

Okay, that one hurt Gerard more than it should. It wasn't like he'd pushed Frank down the stairs, sure, but Gerard knew this likely was the consequence of his luck incantation going wrong. His mother said she'd perform a good luck charm in Frank's name to reverse the issue, and she'd promised to do it before dinnertime, so Gerard was on unofficial Frank surveillance duty - assigned by himself - to make sure nothing bad would happen to the boy until then. For now, the two of them were just lounging around in the basement, which Gerard figured was a safe place. 

"Where's Mikey, by the way?" Frank suddenly inquired.

"With Alicia."

Gerard saw a flash of realization on Frank's face then, "Oh, that's his girlfriend, isn't it? I think he told me about her."

"Yeah," Gerard chuckled unenthusiastically, "that's her." He rolled his eyes, "Get used to this, because he spends almost all of his waking hours with that girl."

Frank read the other boy immediately, "Not fond of her?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Gerard flashed him a stern expression from the floor, looking up at Frank seriously, "How could you tell?" For a brief moment, Gerard's eyes flashed down towards the cross dangling on Frank's neck, feeling his stomach drop a little as he remembered the other's Catholic faith.

The shorter boy laughed amusedly, "Why don't you like her? I don't know her, but Mikey's a nice dude. If he likes her..."

"Mikey _is_ a nice dude, and that's the problem. Alicia's evil and Mikey doesn't see it because he's too nice."

"What did she do?"

Gerard sighed and leaned back against his closet, "See, here's the thing. She hasn't done anything… yet." He scratched his head. “I just get very bad vibes from her. Don't know how to explain it.”

Frank nodded knowingly, “That's your intuition. It just means you subconsciously connected a few dots but you aren't aware of it yet. I'm guessing Mikey didn't connect the same dots, then.”

Gerard blinked up at the other boy, “That's…” he trailed off, dumbfounded for a few moments, “... an excellent way of putting it. I just thought I was crazy…”

“No way! For having an intuition?” Frank sat closer to Gerard then, his legs still crossed but his knees now off the edge of the bed. He looked down at the other boy who sat on the floor by the closet, “You should trust your gut. It's more rational than you think.”

Gerard smiled shyly, fidgeting with his fingernails, feeling flustered from the sincere compliment, “Thanks…”

“Besides,” Frank grinned, “if Mikey’s always with Alicia, it means we get to spend more time together, right?”

“Uh…” Gerard gulped nervously, “... sure. Of course.” He stared down at the cross dangling on the shorter boy’s neck again, almost as if reminding himself of their differences. 

Abruptly, Frank stood up off the bed, cushioning his broken arm as he pushed himself up. He walked over to Gerard’s desk and one-handedly sifted through some of his CDs, momentarily wondering aloud, “Let’s listen to something?”

“Sure,” Gerard agreed.

Frank looked back at him, “You mind if I pick?"

As if Gerard could ever deny him. "Not at all. That music's there because I like it, anyways."

The other boy picked out a couple of CDs Gerard couldn't identify from where he sat on the floor and placed them on a nearby shelf next to the music box, struggling slightly as he one-handedly opened one of the CDs. He operated the music box a little clumsily but still managed to get the music going after a few seconds, bobbing his head contently when the sound of Queen filled the room. 

Gerard grinned, recognizing the song right away, "Killer Queen?"

Frank nodded wordlessly with a friendly tight-lipped smile, taking a seat across Gerard on the floor instead of sitting back on the bed. He leaned back against the foot of the bed and crossed his legs as if to support his broken arm. Subconsciously, Gerard brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his hands around them, both giving Frank some space and comforting himself. 

"So… Frank..." Gerard started nervously, quickly thinking of an interesting question to ask the other boy. "Tell me about the other places you've lived," he decided to say.

Frank furrowed his eyebrows, like he didn't mind the question but didn't find his answer particularly interesting either. "Well, like I told you yesterday, I lived in Ohio and Florida not too long ago. I lived in Jersey up until the third grade, then I moved to a small town in North Carolina for about two years. Then came Columbus for three years, then I lived in the middle of nowhere up in Maine for two more years, then Miami for about three years too, and now here I am."

"Wait..." Gerard felt puzzled as he tried adding those numbers up, "how old are you?"

"Oh, I'm turning eighteen next month." Frank shortly explained, "Got held back a year the first time I switched to Catholic schooling in Maine. You?"

"I turned eighteen in April. When's your birthday?"

"October 31st."

Halloween. Holy shit. This cute guy's birthday was on _Halloween?!_ Gerard could've sworn he had some sort of witch orgasm in that moment. _Witch-gasm?_ Well, whatever the word is for when a witch feels violently delighted about learning a specific fact - that is how Gerard felt upon learning Frank's birthday was on Halloween.

"Holy shit, that's Halloween!" Gerard exclaimed in utter contentment.

"Yeah," Frank smiled timidly. "When's yours? You've graduated already, haven't you?"

"April 9th. And yeah, I graduated from Saint Agnes this year. How are you liking it there, by the way?"

Frank shrugged indifferently, "It's alright. I've been the new kid enough times that I've mastered the art of settling at a new school." He paused as if he were about to say something important, "The key is to make yourself boring enough to not draw the attention of bullies, but still be outgoing enough to make some friends."

As Gerard opened his mouth to ask how Frank had become friends with Mikey, the shorter boy leaned forward and brought a finger to Gerard's lips - effectively shutting him up. He stared at Frank in confusion until the boy shot him a wide grin, explaining himself soon enough, "Wait a second, I love this part." After another short pause, Frank sang along to the music, _"To avoid complications, she never kept the same address..."_ He looked at Gerard expectantly as if waiting for the other boy to join him. 

It didn't take long for Gerard to concede, singing along to the lyrics quietly, _"In conversation, she spoke just like a baroness..."_

Frank seemed content when Gerard joined him and stood up, dragging the other boy up with him with his non-broken arm. He continued singing playfully as he grabbed a hairbrush off Gerard's desk, pretending to use it as a microphone while the two of them sang. Occasionally, Frank would pretend to pass the microphone on over to the other boy, smiling happily when Gerard would sing a little louder. In spite of his broken arm, Frank swayed and even jumped to the music, like he had a million spare arms to break.

There was something strangely surreal about the moment. In fact, Gerard would have found it romantic if he didn't notice something off about the other boy. It seemed like, even though he appeared happy about singing along to the music - which he genuinely seemed to enjoy - there was still something off. Like Frank was only happy in that moment; his eyes glittered, yet somehow possessed no shine. 

There was something missing. 

When the song was over, Frank flopped down on the bed, breathing deeply yet appearing satisfied with himself.

"Frank, your _arm!"_ Gerard exclaimed upon seeing Frank's careless abandon regarding his injury, shaking off whatever observations he had made about the other boy. "Be careful..." he told Frank as he laid down on the bed next to him, still giving himself a few inches of personal space. A new song started playing, which Gerard recognized as I Want To Break Free.

“Pft,” Frank scoffed, “what am I gonna do? _Break it?”_

“You could damage it… make it harder for it to heal…” Gerard argued shyly.

Gerard felt the sheets rumple slightly under his shoulder when Frank shrugged, "Whatever." He quickly changed the subject, looking at the taller boy and asking sincerely, "Gerard, have you ever dated anyone?"

"Uh..." Gerard's ears flared up at the unexpected question. He cleared his throat before hesitantly answering, "Yeah. Once. Just over a year ago."

Frank frowned, "What happened?"

"Erm… we weren't good for each other," Gerard said mysteriously, hoping to end the line of questioning there. Although he felt like Frank wouldn't exactly go running for the hills if he found out he was gay, there was still something scary about telling the whole truth about his past relationship. Mainly, Gerard didn't _know_ how Frank would react, and that was the scariest bit.

"Right..." Frank mumbled thoughtfully, seeming to have gotten the hint, "I guess that'll do it. I've been into a few people but haven't gotten around to actually dating."

"Did they at least like you back?"

Frank bit his lip. "I wouldn't know," he responded cryptically.

What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean? Before Gerard could stop himself, he inquired, "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Oh," Frank tore his eyes away from the other boy and looked back up at the ceiling, taking a few moments to organize his thoughts. When he spoke again, however, his response wasn't any less cryptic than it had previously been.

"It means I still have a lot to think about."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

"Hey dude, can I come over?" Ray asked through the phone, doing his best to appear calm though there was clearly a sense of urgency in his voice.

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows even though the other boy couldn't see it, "You know you can, man. What's wrong?" He felt a pinch of concern at Ray's frantic tone as the other boy was usually so calm and certain - something big definitely must've happened to unnerve him like this.

"It's nothing bad. I'll talk to you when I get there," Ray answered quickly. "Is Frank still there?"

"Uh, no. He just left."

"Alright. Be there in five," Ray said before cutting the line, hanging up without another word.

Gerard stared at his phone in confusion for a few seconds, wondering what on earth happened to Ray. He opted to fetch himself a snack while he waited for the other boy to show up. While in the pantry, Gerard figured he could also grab something for Ray as he didn't have a car and would probably be walking instead of taking an Uber. 

In a total contradiction to Gerard's expectations, Ray barged in through the front door just under five minutes later, heaving and looking disheveled. He spotted Gerard in the kitchen from the entrance hall and approached, leaning on the counter as he caught his breath.

"Dude..." Gerard gaped at his best friend, "did you _run?"_

Ray confirmed, "Yeah. It's important."

"It fucking _must_ be, if you felt the need to _run,"_ Gerard observed sincerely. The last time he'd seen Ray run was when… actually, it was so long ago that Gerard didn't even remember. "What happened?" he asked, tossing Ray a packet of Sour Patch Kids.

"You remember Christa?" Ray started while he opened up the pack.

"The cute one from work?"

He ate a piece of candy before continuing, "Yeah. So... she may or may not have asked me on a date just now before the end of our shift." 

Gerard gasped through a grin, "Dude, what the fuck! Congrats!" He bumped Ray's shoulder excitedly, "What did you say? Did you say yes? You _have_ to go, dude!"

"Of course I agreed! Do I look like an idiot?" Ray said with a roll of his eyes. He got up off the counter to grab a drink in the fridge, reappearing with a can of soda soon afterwards. "She picked the day but she let me pick the place. What's a good place to go Friday night?"

"Hm… you might be better off asking Mikey. He knows the spots around the city better than I do..." Gerard pondered on it for a few moments, reviewing some spots he knew around Los Angeles that would potentially make for a nice date. "What about Santa Monica? You guys could drive up there. Watch the sunset by the beach. Very romantic..." he suggested with a smirk.

"Dude, that's perfect! We could have dinner at the pier too."

Gerard laughed, "Look at us being romantic geniuses. You have to tell me everything about the date when it's over, by the way."

That seemed to remind Ray of something, because his face lit up and he smirked back at his friend, "Speaking of, how was your time with Frank?" He wiggled his eyebrows playfully, "Just the two of you, alone in the house..."

"Well..." Gerard clicked his tongue, "remember how I tried that incantation?"

Ray nodded, "The one for good luck, yeah."

"So… it didn't work." Gerard sighed, "I gave Frank bad luck instead of giving myself good luck," he admitted with a shameful tone. "A bunch of bad shit happened to him and in the end he fell down the stairs and broke his arm."

Ray's eyes widened almost impossibly, "Holy shit, dude."

"Yeah. I told mom and she said she'd reverse the spell but I can't help but wish to be more independent in my craft. I mean, who fucks up a small luck incantation? It's hardly a spell. Maybe I should just start learning witchcraft from scratch or something so maybe I could-"

"Wait, Gerard..." Ray interrupted his nervous rant with a contemplative tone. "If your incantation didn't work, that means that when Frank was hitting on you, that was _all him."_

A line formed down Gerard's forehead then, "What?"

"Yeah, dude!" Ray suddenly looked strangely excited about Gerard's bad witchcraft. "Think about it. Frank was being flirty with you, wasn't he?"

"Well..." Gerard was about to disagree when Ray interrupted him once again.

"He was. Anyways, you did your incantation for good luck, and then he started hitting on you. You thought that was due to your magic, right? But if it didn't work, then it _couldn't_ have been because of the incantation. That means Frank was hitting on you out of his free will without any sort of magical interference," Ray explained, appearing very excited about this fact. 

Gerard frowned, "What do I do with this information?"

Ray grinned, "Enjoy it."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Mikey looked up at Frank as he sat down at the lunch table, "What's good, dude?" he greeted happily. 

"Not much," Frank answered curtly. "You were with Alicia yesterday?" he asked, placing his backpack under his chair neatly.

"Oh yeah," the taller boy confirmed. "I'm guessing you were with Gerard..?" Mikey did his best to phrase it as a question, even though he'd heard all about their encounter yesterday from his older brother. Gerard had made it pretty clear that Frank was confusing the shit out of him, so Mikey figured he'd be a good sibling for once and help his brother out a little. 

Just a little nudge of encouragement.

"Yeah, we hung out after I was done with class. He's cool," Frank replied lightheartedly. 

"Like, _very_ cool, right?" Mikey felt like he was about to barf from the effort it took to call someone like Gerard 'cool,' but still forced the words out of his mouth regardless. He was definitely earning a shitload of good brother points right now.

Frank formed a confused expression like he thought something was definitely off about Mikey, "Sure. He has good taste in music. And he's pretty nice, I guess."

"Do you like him?" Mikey pressed on, deliberately using the word 'like' as an ambiguous term as to not spook Frank too much.

It seemed like Frank caught on, though, since he purposefully replied as casually as possible as to avert the question's deeper meaning, "Yeah, I guess. He's alright. Good company."

Mikey wasn't about to give up so fast, though, so he pressed even further, this time trying something a little different. "So, Frank… any girl in your life that isn't the Virgin Mary or your mom?" When Frank looked a little bewildered by the question, Mikey added, "Or guy. Or... person. I don't know. I don't judge."

"Erm..." Frank's cheeks went a bright pink upon the latter addition, "Not really, no."

At this point, Mikey figured he'd probably poked the poor boy enough, so he thought about another subject to change the conversation towards. Right as Mikey was thinking of asking Frank about his day, however, a backpack slammed onto their table, Pete's angry voice soon following it.

"God, Mrs. Johnson won't get off my dick about the fucking bio exam I skipped," he groaned annoyedly as he sat. "Fucking bitch."

Mikey shot Pete a disappointed look at those words, "That's not a nice way to talk about a woman, dude."

"Whatever," Pete caved in. "Point being that she's annoying me."

Frank spoke up hesitantly, "Maybe you should just take the exam and she'll leave you alone."

Pete took a deep breath to calm himself down, "But I don't know jack shit about biology! I'll fail the exam if I take it and I'm already hardly passing the class."

"Sounds like you should learn some biology, man," Mikey observed intelligently. 

"I probably should, but I also probably won't."

Mikey suggested, "Why don't you ask Gerard for help? He's good at bio. If you asked him for help and said you wanted to get a better grade than me he would probably do it, man."

"Is he that spiteful?" Pete wondered out loud, appearing moderately concerned.

"Just sibling stuff."

 _Yeah,_ Mikey told himself, just the stuff we do for siblings.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Gerard read over the spell he'd written down for the millionth time, making sure there was nothing wrong with it. It was a simple request for the goddess Aphrodite: bring Frank over. Gerard had followed all of the instructions in his mother's book to make sure she'd accept the request. Flowers as an offering for the goddess? Check. Protection ring to avoid bad spirits? Check. Well written spell? Check. Gerard even had the proper pink candles that helped in love magic - there was absolutely no reason for this to fail.

All was ready for the spell to be cast successfully. Gerard couldn't keep relying on his mother's magic anymore.

He knew he likely shouldn't be writing his own spells, but Gerard was absolutely positive that this one had to work well. The lines rhymed, the request was respectful yet certain, and the offering was perfect. All he had to do was to start casting the spell. 

Gerard told himself to relax and believe in himself. After all, if he didn't put the right intent into the magic - and most importantly, _believe_ in it - why would the goddess grant his wish? Spells didn't make themselves come true - they had to be willed into existence as much as they needed to be properly cast. 

When Gerard felt ready, he started the spell, making sure to speak slowly, clearly, and confidently.

_Mother Aphrodite, goddess of love.  
Please keep him free, like the wildest dove.  
And in his way, bring my love to me.  
My heart is true, so mote it be._

And with that, Gerard blew out the candles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about how long this took :'( I'm back at uni after withdrawing for a quarter and am so busy. I promise I won't abandon this fic and I'm coming around to updating A Different Time too!! I'd never abandon my fics :)
> 
> Anyways, what do we think? Frank and Gerard get along well but walls are still very much up. I love hearing what you guys have to say about the characters and the story. 
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> \- Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	4. Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mother: The second face of the Wiccan Triple Goddess. Represents maternal protection, stability, and power. The Wiccan Triple goddess is also associated with the three faces of the Greek goddess Hecate.

It is a known fact that regardless of how good someone is at playing it cool, there is always one moment where they will fall short in said coolness sooner or later.

Ray Toro was currently having one of those moments. 

And while his best friend Gerard was used to having such moments and by now took them in stride, Ray was not such a guy. In fact, Ray was more stressed out about being stressed out than he was about his date. He smoothed his shirt down once again in the mirror like he hadn't just done it dozens of times, checking himself out for any possible flaws that would potentially ruin the date.

"Dude," Gerard called out from behind him, "you look _fine."_ He stared at the curly haired boy through the mirror with a concerned expression, "I've never seen you this anxious before."

Ray retorted, "I've also never been on a date before. Life is full of firsts, Gerard."

 _"Calm down."_ Gerard carefully reasoned, cautious not to be too stern with the other boy as he was clearly stressed already, "You already know Christa likes you. She asked you on this date, remember? You guys already get along well. Just act like you always do around her." He smiled gently at Ray through the mirror and was surprised to see him return the smile timidly, "You're a good guy, Ray. That's why people like you. Christa sees you have a good heart. Don't worry about it. It'll be fine."

Ray laughed, breaking the tension, "You know, this is the first time I've ever believed you after hearing you say, 'it'll be fine.'"

"I always knew I'd have my moment to shine," Gerard said with humorous melodrama. 

"Alright, drama queen," Ray responded playfully. "Speaking of dating, are you seeing Frank today?"

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, "We have nothing planned, no. He might stop by to see Mikey, though. I don't know what they've got going on. There's a Dodgers game today and Mikey might've invited Frank and Pete over to watch it with him."

"Pft," Ray scoffed as he adjusted the collar of his shirt, "Frank doesn't wanna watch the Dodgers game."

"How do you know?" Gerard wondered, curious about the other boy's certainty. "I think he kinda seems like the sporty type."

Ray smiled cheekily, "I bet you a McDonald's that Frank doesn't give a flying fuck about baseball."

"You're on, bitch."

 _“Anyways,”_ Ray checked his watch, “I think I need to get going. Wouldn't wanna be late.”

Gerard shook his head vigorously, “Absolutely not! It’s rude to keep a lady waiting. I know that for a fact.”

Ray shot him a confused look, “What do _you_ know about women?”

“That they don't like to be kept waiting!” Gerard exclaimed. “Because who the fuck does, right?”

 _“Hm._ Right.” Ray fixed his hair in the mirror and smoothed over his shirt one final time before grabbing his phone and car keys off the bed. Abruptly, a phone rang and Ray quickly checked if it was Christa, but instead of picking up, he looked over at his friend, “It’s you, dude.”

“Oh!” Gerard unpocketed his phone and put on a confused expression upon seeing the caller ID. He accepted the call and raised the phone up to his ear, "Mikey?"

His brother murmured angrily through the phone, _"Did you do magic again?!"_

"Why?" Gerard wondered worriedly, "What's wrong?" 

"I want you to come here so you can see it, loser."

Had something gone wrong with _Frank?_ Gerard frowned, "Is Frank there?" 

"Yes," Mikey responded coldly, which vaguely alarmed his older brother as this was a rather unusual type of response for him. "Frank and Pete are here to watch the Dodgers game today. I thought I told you."

Gerard raised his eyebrows at Ray and put his hand over his phone speakers, mouthing at his friend, _"Frank's there."_ He raised his phone back towards his ear and asked his brother, "How does he look?"

"You want me to say he looks hot or something?"

Gerard grimaced at Mikey's strange interpretation of his question, _"No,_ idiot. I mean how does he look... emotionally? Is he happy? Upset? Read the room, Mikey."

"Uh..." There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before the younger answered, "Not gonna lie, he kinda looks like someone pissed in his cereal. But that might be because of your shit, dude. Just come down here already. Where the fuck even are you? Since when do you go out on Fridays?"

Did little brothers _have_ to be so annoying? Was it in the pre-birth agreement that they had to annoy the shit out of their older siblings? "I'm at Ray's, asshole. He has a date and I'm helping him out. I'll ask him to drop me off since he's about to leave." At that, Gerard shot the curly-haired boy a hopeful smile to which he simply rolled his eyes, not appearing angry but rather just mildly inconvenienced. 

"Just… hurry up," Mikey said mysteriously before suddenly hanging up. 

Ray sighed once he saw Gerard put down the phone, "I have to drive you home?"

"Yeah, sorry man," Gerard replied apologetically. "But in other news, it looks like I owe you some McDonald's."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

When Gerard got dropped off at home, he didn't exactly know what to expect upon getting out of the car. But, regardless of what he had in mind, he _definitely_ didn't expect to see Frank sitting on the curb, indeed looking - just as Mikey had described - as if someone had pissed in his cereal. When he spotted Gerard, Frank looked up to give him a kind smile, although there was still something clearly wrong with the boy. 

"What..." Gerard breathed out, bewildered by the strange sight, "what's going on?"

The shorter boy raised his right foot towards Gerard. "I can't step into your house," he answered with a frown.

Indeed, when Gerard examined the boy's shoe more closely, he saw the sole was completely charred - as if he'd stepped into hot lava or a searing grill. The smell of burnt rubber still lingered in the air and Gerard scrunched up his nose at how unpleasant it was, briefly wondering why on earth Frank hadn't chucked his shoe in the trash by now. Gerard raised a finger at the other boy, "Just a moment. Mikey and I will fix it. It's just, uh… faulty wiring."

A daunting line formed down Frank's forehead then, like he had a million and one thoughts running through his head and not one of them believed the bullshit Gerard had just given him. Yet, by the time he responded, his face softened and his tone was still courteous, "Thank you." 

This boy was far too well-mannered. 

Gerard looked up to see an angry looking Mikey standing in the doorway, arms crossed and lips pursed. He walked towards Mikey with open palms raised in the air, mumbling, “Listen, I can explain,” when Frank was out of earshot. 

“Well, what the fuck happened?!” Mikey said snarkily, his arms still crossed.

Gerard took a deep breath and got to explaining, “See, I cast a spell to bring Frank here.”

Mikey didn't look too impressed, _“... and?”_

“And… I might've accidentally banished him from the premises instead.”

The younger stared at Gerard with a stoic expression, appearing to be approaching his breaking point with Gerard’s magical misadventures. “You fucking dumbass.” He sighed, “You’re lucky this is easy to fix.”

“I'll do the counter spell.”

 _“No!”_ Mikey exclaimed desperately, uncrossing his arms and waving them frantically at his brother. “I'll do it. Just… stay here.”

Gerard felt puzzled then, “Wait, if you can do the counter spell, why did you ask me to come?”

“So you could see what you did,” Mikey stated calmly, like he’d actually thought it over. “You know, the stuff that happens because of what we do.”

“You mean... consequences?”

“Yeah, that’s what I just said.” Mikey groaned, “Urgh, listen. I'll cast the spell, but you've gotta at least start letting me know when you’re gonna do some magic. So the bad shit doesn't come totally out of left field, you know what I mean?”

 _No, certainly not,_ Gerard thought. What the hell did that expression even mean? Gerard definitely didn't know what on earth it was meant to reference. “Huh?” 

Mikey shook his head, “Nevermind. I think you're too gay to get that one. Just… let me unbanish Frank, dude.” He raised an arm and held his hand over the rim of the doorframe, casting unenthusiastically.

_Darling Mother, in your holy grace.  
Thank you for protecting us as we have grown.  
And in your warm embrace,  
Let no good soul be unwelcome in this home.  
Bring the good hearts to me.  
As it is cast, so mote it be._

“Done. That should work,” Mikey announced shortly. “You can call him over now. He should be able to come in unless he’s, like… evil or some shit like that.” 

Gerard shot his brother a full-toothed smile. “Thanks, Mikey,” he said sincerely. “I don't know how I'll repay you."

Suddenly, Mikey flashed the elder a shit-eating grin, "Oh, I know what I want you to do." He wrapped an arm around Gerard's shoulders and gave him a look that was scarily friendly, "You, my loving big bro-"

"Don't call me 'big bro,' that's fucking awkward as fu-"

Mikey ignored Gerard's clear distaste for the nickname and continued like he hadn't spoken at all, "You, my loving big bro, are going to sit down on the couch with all of us and watch the Dodgers game. And you're gonna fucking like it."

"No I'm not, Mikey," Gerard whined, breaking himself free from his brother's grip around his shoulders. "I don't know shit about baseball."

Mikey raised his eyebrows and smirked like he'd just hit the jackpot, "And neither does Frank! See? You guys can hang out because, let's face it, he doesn't wanna watch the game but he's way too nice to say 'no'." Mikey reasoned, "So, think about it like this, I'll have some bro time with Pete, and we're gonna pretend like we're not hearing you and Frank going to first base right next to us. We can even sit on the floor and let you guys keep the couch. See?" He lightly punched Gerard's shoulder and nodded, "Bros."

Gerard raised his hands defensively, "Alright, Jesus fucking Christ. As long as it'll make you stop talking, because frankly, it's freaking me out to hear you make this much of a logical point." Why the hell was _Mikey_ making a good point? Gerard definitely thought that shouldn't be allowed. Since when did that guy even have thoughts? 

The younger responded by giving Gerard an impish wink, "... so you're going for second base, huh?"

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Watching the Dodgers game with Mikey and Pete proved to be almost alright. 

Sure, hearing Mikey and Pete yell nonsensical crap at the TV was a little jarring, but having Frank there made the experience somewhat worth it. Mikey did keep his word and sat on the floor with Pete, which Gerard found was not as great of an idea as he previously thought when Frank first leaned in to talk to him.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" the shorter boy muttered about half an hour into the game after leaning over towards Gerard, who gasped lightly at the sudden proximity. It wasn't like he'd been focusing much on the game, sure, but it's still a little bit of a shock to suddenly feel another person's breath on your neck - especially when said person is your crush.

Gerard chuckled nervously, hoping to play it cool. "Not even a little," he mumbled. "I think their goal is to hit the ball and then run around that circle, but I'm not so sure." He told himself to avoid looking directly at Frank when their faces were so close to each other - even though the boy's teasing silence begged for a little glance.

"A circle?" Frank said with a smirk that Gerard could hear rather than see. "That's a rhombus. Are you sure you're watching the same game I am?"

"Whatever." Gerard sucked in the corner of his lower lip, reminding himself to not look at Frank no matter what he said. "Circle, rhombus, it's all the same game," he argued sheepishly, even though he could hear how weak-willed he sounded as he spoke. 

Frank hummed, "Hm… no. I kinda wanna hear you say that it's a rhombus now. Go on. Say it."

What the hell was it with this guy? Why did he have to be so hot and cold all the time? It seemed like during some moments, Gerard felt like Frank was almost trying to flirt with him, and at others, the other boy couldn't feel more distant. At this point, Gerard didn't even know if there was a wall between the two of them. Or maybe there was, and just one of them kept said wall up. Regardless, their dynamic was definitely confusing the fuck out of Gerard and he didn't quite know how to navigate it yet.

He opted to answer humorously, trying to see if Frank would press on or back off. "Whatever happened to your manners?" 

However, instead of backing off, Frank simply responded with a tense silence, almost as if he'd noticed Gerard's hesitance to look at him and was challenging the taller boy to do exactly that. For those short - or long - moments, Gerard felt Frank's gaze on the side of his face almost like two solid touches, hot and alive. There was a strange weight crushing Gerard's lungs then; he could've sworn the air around him turned into warm honey - sweet but so thick.

Eventually, it became way too much. Gerard gave in, slowly turning to glance over at Frank, who shot him a pleased look when they finally made eye contact. The shorter boy was so close that Gerard's eyes could barely focus on his face properly in the dim light; the sun was about to set and that was the only source illuminating the room if not for the blue light of the television. It seemed like there was some suspense in the game as well, because Mikey and Pete were now holding completely silent too.

Frank flashed Gerard a bright smile then. "What happened to my manners?" he asked huskily yet still with a tint of amusement. "I'm always well-mannered. I don't know what you're on about."

 _God,_ Gerard thought as he looked at the other boy, _it would be so easy to kiss him right now._ It would. He could just lean in, barely an _inch,_ and close that distance between them. It would hardly require any movement at all. What would it feel like? It would be so, so easy…

 _"FUCK YEAH!"_ Mikey and Pete suddenly yelled in unison, startling the other two boys so much they leaped apart. Gerard put a hand over his chest and gasped as he sat back. He tried to look around and absorb what on earth had just warranted this type of response, and when he honed in on the TV, he saw the players on there were celebrating too, the narrator shouting something about a 'home run.' 

God fucking damn it, straight people. 

Even though Gerard hadn't exactly been focusing on the game before, after his tense interaction with Frank, he might as well have been watching a news announcement for a cancer cure and he would've absorbed jack shit of it. All he could focus on was the look on Frank's face - how he hadn't recoiled, not even a fraction of an inch. But he hadn't leaned in either. Rather, it seemed like Frank himself didn't know what to do at that point. But if so, what was he trying to achieve by teasing Gerard? Nevertheless, the interaction was enough to make Gerard so anxious about talking to the other boy that when he left, Gerard hadn't spoken a single word to him again.

In fact, Gerard didn't make eye contact with Frank again for the rest of the evening. 

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Some events are uncommon and come more unexpected than others. 

The doorbell ringing at 11am on a weekend. A rainy day in Los Angeles. Your crush suddenly showing up at your door soaking wet. 

And yet, that very Sunday morning, Gerard Way was stuck in the middle of these three rather unlikely events. See, the interesting thing about the universe is that even though common events happen more frequently, rare events sometimes happen as well simply due to not being downright impossible. And that was how Gerard found himself grunting tiredly as he stumbled out of bed that weekend, confused as to who the hell would be ringing the doorbell so vigorously on a Sunday morning in L.A. What Angeleno even _went outside_ when it was raining? 

Gerard crankily walked upstairs and groaned when he heard the doorbell ring once again, "I'm coming, asshole." As he approached the door, Gerard prepared to cuss out whatever annoying Jehovah's Witness was probably outside, already getting angry at this person who thought it was perfectly acceptable to ring his doorbell before noon on a Sunday. However, something made Gerard stop dead in his tracks once he swung open the front door.

Outside, standing on the porch, was Frank - puffy eyed and dripping wet from head to toe.

"Frank..." Gerard uttered, dumbfounded. "What… what's going on?" Once he saw Frank's eyes were tear-stained red, his anger over the doorbell ringing completely vanished, being fully replaced with immediate concern. "What happened to you?"

Instead of saying anything, Frank shook his head and looked away from the other boy. Gerard still saw his lip quiver and heard him sniffle over the sound of the rain, and he tried waiting a few seconds to see if he'd say anything. But, when Frank remained quiet, Gerard wondered, "Are you, uh… are you here to see Mikey? I can call him down if you want."

"No..." Frank mumbled. "I'm here to see you," he said, looking back at Gerard then. 

For a few moments, Gerard just stared down at the shorter boy, overwhelmed at how powerless he felt. How was he supposed to help? He _had_ to help Frank and yet he had no clue what had happened to him or what he could do. What if he failed and only made Frank feel worse? Hell, this moment could make or break their entire relationship - or whatever they had coming in the future.

Gerard was quickly brought out of his thoughts when Frank sniffled again, this time looking back down and fidgeting with his fingernails like he had something to say. When Frank did speak again, his voice was hoarse - broken.

“Can… can I come in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy about this chapter. I'm very excited for the next one too. I feel like I finally got my mojo with this fic. The previous 3 chapters were hard to write as I was getting into the vibe of the fic but now I feel comfortable in it.
> 
> Anyways, what did you think??? Leave a comment if you can, I promise I'll read it many times over and it'll make my day :3
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> \- Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	5. Airmed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Airmed: Irish goddess associated with healing and resurrection.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" 

Frank wordlessly shook his head for the umpteenth time. 

"Alright," Gerard responded with a gentle sigh. "We're still gonna have to get you dry, though." He uttered, "You're gonna have to change these clothes because they're gonna keep you cold until they dry. Uh… I can give you some of my own if you want."

The smaller boy looked hesitant for a moment. He mumbled raspily, "Will they fit me?" Frank wore a button up shirt, tie, and dress pants - oddly well dressed for a Sunday morning.

Gerard considered the question for a few seconds, "Well, I could go upstairs and fetch you some of Mikey's stuff. He's taller but he's so thin that some of his clothes might actually fit yo-"

Frank cut him off, "No, it's alright." He gave Gerard a soft smile that didn't reach his eyes but still filled his cheeks pink. "I can take yours."

In that moment, Gerard chose to ignore the way his heart palpitated inside his chest and instead nodded hastily, “Okay. Uh, I'll get you something.” He raised himself off his bedroom floor and shortly approached his closet, looking for something warm to give Frank. In the end, Gerard opted for a grey long-sleeved shirt and an old pair of red flannel pajama pants, as they were the only items in his closet he could see fitting the smaller boy. "Here you go," he announced as he placed the folded clothes on the corner of his bed, looking down at Frank who remained immobile from where he sat on the floor.

When Frank responded with nothing but silence, Gerard realized that he'd probably enjoy some privacy to change his clothes. "I'll go fetch you a towel while you change. You can just throw your clothes in my laundry basket," he pointed towards the corner of his bedroom where said laundry basket sat and gave Frank a curt nod before promptly leaving his bedroom, lightly shutting the door behind himself. 

While Frank was changing, Gerard figured he'd also brew some tea because - modesty apart - he could brew some killer tea. Being raised as a witch had some perks, and one of them was being incredibly adept with herbs and spices. If Gerard was about to impress a boy, it would be with some great tea. Once he was done grabbing a clean towel in the hall closet, Gerard made his way to the kitchen, where he was met by Mikey and a certain - rather unwelcome - female figure sitting at the breakfast table.

"Alicia," Gerard greeted unenthusiastically, "you're here." 

She answered with a coldness to her voice that even surpassed his, "Gerard, you're here too."

Mikey flashed his eyes between the two of them, looking displeased at the animosity. "I'm also here," he said with a lighthearted tone that sounded out of place given the nastiness present in the air. 

The elder greeted back, "Mornin' Mikey." Gerard made sure to sound friendlier then, as to make a point to Alicia that his coldness was about her presence in the kitchen rather than any sort of morning crankiness. He placed the clean towel he'd separated for Frank on the counter. "You're up early."

Mikey chuckled, "Right back at ya."

"Your doorbell isn't exactly _quiet,_ you know," Alicia chimed in passive-aggressively. 

Gerard bit back a snide remark and instead opted to ignore her, sauntering over towards the wide kitchen window where his mother kept some of her most commonly used herbs. He cut a few chamomile flowers and basil leaves, placing them inside the large tea infuser embedded into the kettle. 

"What are you making tea for?" Mikey inquired after noticing what his brother was doing.

"Frank," Gerard stated simply, reaching inside the fridge for some ginger and lemon.

Mikey gasped lightly. "Shit, was he the one ringing the doorbell?" he asked, a fair amount of concern in his voice. "Where is he right now? What's going on with him?”

Gerard shut the fridge, a lemon and ginger root in hand. "Yeah, he's down in my bedroom. And I don't know, really. He didn't tell me. Just showed up. Bad morning, I think." The elder grabbed a knife from a nearby drawer and got to chopping the ginger root, placing the aromatic slices into the kettle.

“Should I go down to see him?”

“No!” Gerard answered desperately, dropping his knife and turning back around to face his brother. "Don't go into my bedroom."

Mikey flashed him a confused expression, "Why not?"

"Because Frank's not wearing any clothes, Mikey."

The younger gasped, "You _fucked_ him?!" Gerard noticed Alicia looking mildly uncomfortable across Mikey on the breakfast table but instead of stepping back into the conversation, she only sipped on her coffee with a judgmental gaze.

"What?" Gerard recoiled. "I didn't fuck Frank, dude. That's not what happened at all."

Mikey dropped his gleeful expression. "He fucked _you?"_ he asked, his eyebrows almost up to his hairline. "I have to say that's not what I expected to happen, but I'm happy for you anyways. It's still a bit weird that you're making him tea, though. Is it normal in the gay world to make boys herbal tea after sex? Not tryna judge you or anything, but-"

"No, Mikey," Gerard interrupted, "we did not have sex with each other. The tea is not a post-sex snack, Jesus Christ." He turned back around and cut the lemon he took from the fridge in half. "I'm just making him tea because he's clearly having a bad time, alright?" Gerard explained as he filled the kettle, "Right now's not the time to get laid. Besides, Frank's straight, remember?”

"No he's not," Mikey replied with relaxed confidence. "And, if you believe that, why are you trying to impress him with tea?"

Why the hell was _Mikey_ making a good argument? "I guess I'm just holding out for hope," Gerard admitted, squeezing some lemon juice into the kettle and then switching it on. "But, you know, a nice cup of tea can't make a bad day worse."

It was then that another presence joined them in the kitchen with the usual bounce to her step and click-clack of high heels. "Good morning, boys," Donna announced, quickly following her greeting with, "and you, Alicia." 

“Morning, mom,” Gerard and Mikey both replied out of sync. 

Alicia's response was more courteous, albeit colder, "Good morning, Ms. Way."

"I'm meeting with Maria today to discuss what we'll be doing for the winter solstice this year," Donna commented, grabbing a set of keys from her purse. “I think I might also ask her for a reading since I haven't gotten one in ages.”

“Take _him_ with you,” Mikey responded snarkily, nodding towards his older brother. “Maybe she can... realign his chakras or something.” 

Donna looked at Mikey disapprovingly but spared him of a lecture, pretending to not have heard his shockingly clever remark. It was then that she seemed to notice Gerard by the kettle, because she approached inquisitively and wondered aloud, “What are you putting in it?”

“Erm,” Gerard’s forehead tightened around his eyebrows as he listed, “lemon, ginger, chamomile, and basil. Why? Should I add something else?”

His mother thought for a moment before reaching for a small case on the spice rack, quietly sprinkling a bright orange powder into the kettle. “A bit of turmeric should do nicely,” she explained herself as she shut the kettle again. The tea was already looking close to ready, and Gerard mentally kicked himself for not thinking of adding the turmeric first as it made the concoction smell simply amazing.

“Alright, I'll get going, boys. Don't wait for me to get lunch if you’re hungry,” Donna said brightly as she adjusted her purse over her shoulder and rushed out of the kitchen. “Call me if you need anything!” she yelled from the entrance hall before the slam of a door cut her off completely.

Before anyone in the kitchen could start up a new conversation, Gerard was startled by the sound of electronic beeping by his side. Once he processed that it was not in fact a bomb and instead just the kettle, Gerard shut it off and poured some of the freshly brewed tea into a mug. Although he thought the tea smelled great, he wasn't really in the mood for some himself, so Gerard settled for pouring only one mug and left the remaining tea behind for anyone who felt like drinking it.

He grabbed a tube of honey, a teaspoon, and put the clean towel he'd fetched earlier over his shoulder before he made his way back downstairs cautiously. Gerard avoided treading too lightly so Frank could still hear him approaching before he knocked on his bedroom door.

"Frank?" Gerard called out. "Can I come in?"

A hoarse voice responded from inside the room, "Yeah."

Gerard carefully opened his bedroom door to find Frank sitting cross-legged against the closet, this time wearing the clothes he'd been given by the other boy. The pants seemed to almost fit Frank alright, but the shirt was clearly too big - the collar was dangling off his neck and a few inches of his collarbones peeked through, still wet from the rain. Gerard did his absolute best to not think about how cute Frank looked in that moment - his right hand on his lap fidgeting with the sleeve that was obviously way too long on him. 

The taller boy cleared his throat. "Uh, I blended you some tea," he raised the mug slightly as to indicate what it was. "And I brought you a towel." Gerard sat down on the floor across Frank, mimicking his pose and carefully placing the mug on the carpet. "I didn't know how sweet you liked it so I brought you some honey too."

Frank raised his eyebrows and his lips parted softly. He appeared to be flattered by the favor Gerard had done him, and it was likely unexpected, given the subtle but still audible gasp he took as he eyed the mug Gerard brought. "Thank you," Frank whispered. "What's in it?"

"Chamomile, basil, lemon, ginger, and a dash of turmeric," the witch listed, trying not to sound like, well… a witch. 

Something about this reply caused Frank to emit a gentle chuckle, but he made no comment while he took the honey and squirted some into the tea, stirring it quietly as he continued laughing to himself.

"What's..." Gerard asked curiously, "what's so funny?"

Frank shook his head, "Nothing, it's just..." a small smile showed up on his face then. "It's just that I've never heard of a white family owning so many herbs and spices."

 _Oh shit,_ Gerard thought. He had to come up with a reply that gave another explanation for the herbs that wasn't along the lines of _hey, my family and I regularly practice witchcraft. You know, the thing that folks of your religion hanged people for._ "Right," he laughed anxiously along with the other boy, "we're, uh... quite the chefs here," Gerard remarked. That wasn't exactly a lie - Gerard, Mikey, and Donna did in fact know how to cook rather well - it just wasn't the whole truth. Lying by omission. Not really Gerard's proudest moment.

Frank took a sip of his tea but soon put it back down with a frown, making a displeased noise before he squirted an excessive amount of honey into the mixture. Gerard ogled him in shock, thinking Frank was downright ruining his tea with how much he was sweetening it, but when the shorter boy took another sip, he only hummed contently and kept on drinking it like he thought it tasted delicious. 

That was it. Gerard couldn't help it. He was so horrified by the sheer volume of honey Frank had added to the tea that he exclaimed a sudden, "What the hell?" before he could stop himself. 

Frank blinked up at the boy in front of him, his eyes still tear-stained red but clearer than they'd been when he first arrived. He kept on holding the mug to his lips. "What?" he uttered before taking yet another sip.

"That's so much honey!" Gerard laughed. "How can you even drink that?"

This seemed to catch Frank off guard because he flashed Gerard a lighthearted smile, "What do you mean?" he wondered, his voice now much steadier. "Everything's better when it's sweet," he stated with certainty. "Here," Frank held the tea up to Gerard, "try it."

Hesitantly, Gerard grabbed the mug and took a small sip, immediately regretting his decision. _"Bleurgh,"_ he stuck his tongue out in disgust, shaking his head vigorously as if trying to get away from the taste. "That's _repulsive._ How are you not throwing up?!"

"It tastes great!" 

"It tastes like Willy Wonka came in it."

This drew a surprisingly loud laugh from Frank, "Well, maybe I like it that way!" Gerard felt a dash of pride for making the other boy laugh in that moment, considering he'd shown up crying at his front door not twenty minutes prior. Frank then snatched the mug out of Gerard's hands, "Give me my tea back if you're not going to appreciate it," he said playfully, taking a sip right away. He hummed happily again as if trying to make the point that it did in fact taste good.

"That's just pure honey at this point! How are you enjoying it? What are you, a bee?" Gerard teased with a grin.

 _"No,_ just a person with taste." 

"Yeah, the taste of a five-year-old."

Frank stared at Gerard and bit his lip as if trying to contain his laughter, "Are you just going to make fun of me the whole time?"

"Sorry, sorry," Gerard conceded, still smiling. He grabbed the towel off his shoulder where he'd carried it. "Let's dry you off, Queen Bee."

This nickname caused Frank to roll his eyes, which by now were almost perfectly clear again, but he remained silent as Gerard brought the towel to his head. He started by rubbing Frank's hair dry behind his ears as it was dripping down his neck there, but quickly realized he needed to sit a little closer to the shorter boy to reach the back of his head.

What's a normal, inoffensive, heterosexual distance to sit from a boy you have a crush on? 

Gerard settled for shuffling a couple of inches forward, just enough to reach Frank's scalp. When he noticed that a comfortable silence was beginning to settle between the two of them, he lowered his voice to speak gingerly, "You know, not to nag you or anything, but you shouldn't have gotten your cast wet. You're gonna have to get it replaced."

Frank lowered his eyes shamefully and hid the bottom half of his face behind his mug, "I know."

"It's gonna start getting really itchy soon too," Gerard informed, rubbing the towel on Frank's head to get his hair dry.

"How do you know?" the shorter boy asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Gerard tilted his head sideways, "Mikey broke his wrist a while back. Fell while playing baseball," he answered succinctly to get back on subject. Gerard took on a concerned tone once again, "Frank, I don't know what happened to you," he started delicately. "And I'm not going to make you tell me, but I want to help you. I'm not here to judge you. I just want to make you feel better," Gerard concluded tenderly yet seriously, staring back at Frank so he knew he was being sincere.

"I know. But it's nothing," Frank brushed off. "Just… tell me a story."

"A story?" Gerard asked in bemusement.

Frank smiled softly from behind his mug and nodded, "From your childhood or something. Just… talk." He looked back at the other boy with his wide dark eyes, _"Please?"_

"Uh… alright," the taller boy agreed mindlessly, completely unable to decline. He quickly thought of a funny story from when he and Mikey were kids, "Did you know that Mikey _hates_ horror movies?" When Frank's face lit up in surprise, Gerard confirmed, "Yup. He's extremely terrified of them. And it's completely, wholeheartedly, one-hundred-percent my fault."

"How?"

Gerard began, "Well, when _Final Destination 5_ first came out, I really wanted to watch it. I think I was ten and Mikey was nine. Anyways, my mom wouldn't let me go to the movies alone and Ray was away to visit family on the weekend the movie debuted. So I had to bring Mikey with me and I told him the movie wouldn't be _that_ scary," he said as he continued drying Frank's scalp, barely having to mutter due to their proximity. "Needless to say, he wasn't even the slightest bit pleased with all the death and gore in the movie." Gerard giggled at the memory of Mikey holding his eyes shut for most of the film, "He was pale as a corpse when we left the movie theatre." 

Frank joined him, giggling at the story, "Do you still talk him into watching horror movies with you?"

"Oh, no. But Alicia does. She loves horror movies and Mikey pretends like he's not about to shit his pants the whole time. I don't think she actually knows how terrified he is." Gerard started moving downwards with the towel, now drying Frank's neck where his hair had dripped. "In fact, they went on a date to watch _It_ and Mikey threw up when he got home. I think he didn't sleep for like two days."

 _"Really?!"_ Frank smiled, apparently delighted by this information. "Wow, I love horror movies."

"Well, ask Mikey if he wants to watch _Paranormal Activity_ or something and enjoy his reaction."

Frank smirked and took a long sip of his tea. "I'll keep that in mind." His face had completely changed by now. His eyes were clear and the usual rose of his cheeks had returned. "We should watch something," he suggested, finishing off his tea and placing the mug gently on the floor.

"You wanna watch some demonic possession now?" Gerard asked, tossing the towel he'd been using to dry the other boy's hair at his laundry basket.

Frank's eyes wandered downwards for a moment, and he fidgeted with the golden cross pendant he wore around his neck briefly before tucking it into his shirt - hiding it from sight. "Well, you can't expect me to not crave a horror movie after all this talk about _Final Destination_ and _It."_

It was right then that Gerard had a brilliant idea. If he chose a horror movie containing a gay character, he could use that to gauge Frank's reaction! He mentally patted himself on the back for being out-of-this-world brilliant. "Can we watch _Jennifer's Body?"_ A lesbian cannibalistic cheerleader - that should do the trick. It was a movie Gerard's high school friend Hayley had shown him, and Gerard had loved the dark comedic aspects of the film right away.

Frank grinned, "Yes, I love _Jennifer's Body!"_

 _He did?!_ Well, Gerard supposed it was an interesting movie, homosexual tones both aside and included.

"Alright, I'll get the DVD."

By the time Gerard had turned off the lights and put the movie on, Frank had made himself rather comfy on Gerard's bed, his back against the wall so he could properly face the television. Frank lifted up the blanket with his non-broken arm when Gerard sat on his bed - inviting him to come closer. And who the hell was Gerard to _decline?_

He put the blanket over his lap and barely suppressed a gasp when Frank inched even closer, their legs now touching. Gerard did his best to ignore how warm the smaller boy felt against him and hit play on the movie, inwardly praying to Aphrodite that things would go right - whatever the hell her plan was. 

They watched the movie in silence. But this silence wasn't awkward, at least not as far as Gerard could tell. Instead, it felt cozy, almost as if it'd been practiced before. Intimate. At one point, Gerard felt an extra weight on his shoulder, and when he turned to see what it was, he saw it was Frank laying on him, his slow yet profound breathing pattern indicating he'd fallen fast asleep. 

Right then, Gerard saw the main character got impaled through the stomach onscreen, Frank remaining completely oblivious as he moved not even an inch. The taller boy did his best to stifle a giggle - how the hell was this boy sleeping through a demonically possessed girl getting _impaled?_

However, as Gerard gave up on watching the movie and focused on Frank's relaxed face - how serene he looked as he slept - he began feeling the familiar pull of sleep himself. And as he listened to the rainfall, foreign yet welcome, Gerard plunged down into a peaceful slumber.

The rain continued dripping outside long after the closing credits were over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 100 hits on the last chapter alone! THANK YOU!!!! 
> 
> If you like this story, please leave a comment :') I work hard on these chapters and it's so encouraging to read you guys' comments. It means a lot to me <3
> 
> Anyways, Frank and Gerard have just gotten through to each other! You could say this is the first time they truly connect. Their relationship is still going to develop loads and I'm super excited. Although something big might happen sooner than you think, muahahahhahah
> 
> What do you think happened to Frank, btw?
> 
> AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL TOO!!!  
> \- Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	6. Janus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Janus: Roman god of new beginnings.

Donna eyed her eldest son suspiciously as he took a seat at the dinner table. “Gerard, darling. You've…” she narrowed her eyes, “you've _showered.”_

“And you washed your hair…” Mikey soon added, looking equally suspicious. 

Gerard brushed his still-wet hair out of his forehead. “So?” 

“So…” Donna carried on, “Why?”

“Why?! Since when do people need a big reason to take a shower?”

Mikey scoffed, _“People_ don’t. You do, nerd.”

“I wanted to take a shower.” Gerard shrugged off, “Don't see why it's such a big deal.” He grabbed his cutlery and began digging into his food to divert from the conversation.

“Oh, come on, mom,” Mikey started, shooting his mother an impish look, “we both know what this is about. It’s Frank. Gerard’s trying to impress him. The witchcraft isn't working so now he’s going for…” he briefly trailed off, “... something else.”

Gerard flashed Mikey an angry glare. Did little brothers have to be so annoying? 

Regardless, Donna smiled kindly at Gerard, “Well darling, I'm glad you’re taking care of yourself.” She sighed, “Even if it’s about a boy. After all, boys or no boys, our bodies are still our precious vessels into this world. If Frank’s the one who warranted the change, I'm glad he’s around. He seems better than Adam from what I've heard,” she said sensibly.

Something about that seemed funny to Mikey, because he laughed and rolled his eyes knowingly, “Not really a high bar there. That guy fucking sucked.”

Donna raised her eyebrows like she wanted to agree, but also didn't want to use the exact terms Mikey did. “I will admit I didn’t exactly _like_ Adam, sweetie. He wasn't… your finest conquer,” she told Gerard, although her tone indicated she liked the boy in question just as little as Mikey.

“Basically, he was the fucking worst,” the younger summarized, taking a forkful of food into his mouth.

“Whatever, he’s in the past.” Gerard quickly changed subjects, fidgeting with his dish rather than eating it. “Frank’s so much better than Adam anyways.”

Mikey shook his head from side to side contemplatively, “That's true. Because Frank isn't a fucking _asshole.”_

Donna suddenly smiled, nodding at both her sons, “You know, I should meet this Frank boy. Invite him over to dinner this weekend.” 

The youngest looked apprehensive. “Mom, are you _sure?_ He doesn't even know we're witches.”

Ms. Way frowned at the two boys, shooting them a disappointed look, “You haven't told Frank that we're witches? Now that won't do.” She put down her cutlery and crossed her arms, “When were you two planning on doing that, exactly?”

The siblings exchanged looks. “Uh… never, maybe?” Gerard muttered, also putting his fork and knife down. He wasn't hungry anymore.

 _”Never?!”_ Donna exclaimed. “Boys, you have to tell Frank that you're witches. You had no problems telling Ray, Pete, Hayley,” she then looked at Mikey, “hell, even Alicia, so what’s the problem with telling Frank?”

“He’s Catholic,” Mikey said as if he were stating the obvious.

This answer didn't seem to convince his mother, though, because she only scoffed, “So? You all met Ray, Pete, and Hayley at Catholic school. Do you have any issues with Frank being Catholic?”

“Of course not,” Gerard answered right away.

“So why do you expect Frank to have issues with you being a witch?” 

Mikey chuckled nervously, “Uh, maybe because they used to _burn_ witches?”

Donna raised an eyebrow, now looking amused rather than upset, “You seriously believe your friend would want to burn you at the stake?”

“We don't even know if he likes gay people, mom,” Gerard sighed. “Let alone _witches.”_

“Hey, that's what you think!” Mikey told his brother. _“You_ don't know if he likes gay people. I know that he does because he _is_ one.”

“And what’s your evidence for that? That he has a good vocabulary?”

Mikey nodded excitedly, “Exactly!”

Donna raised both her palms at her sons and fanned them up and down. “Easy, boys.” She took a deep breath and visibly relaxed into her seat. “How about you two try and subtly find out how Frank feels about people of other faiths? Surely he won't be aggressive towards witches based on what you’ve told me about him. While you're at it, you might also want to find out how he feels about gay people?”

“He doesn’t have a problem with gay people, for the bajillionth time!” Mikey yelled in anguish. “He’s not even straight!”

“If that is the truth, then time will surely tell,” Donna responded, clearly trying to calm down her son. She quickly changed the subject, “Anyways, I met with Maria this weekend and we have agreed to host our usual winter solstice bonfire this year.”

Mikey answered in a deceptively neutral tone, “Cool.”

"Also, we'll be performing our usual ritual of watching the sunrise and Maria will perform a prayer to our ancestors. I know we skipped this last year since Adam used to lead the prayer, but I believe this is a change for the better.” Donna then wiped her mouth with her napkin and slowly got up from the table. “Are you two done? Gerard, you barely ate anything.”

“Not hungry,” Gerard answered shortly. “Thanks, mom.” He then mimicked her and got up from the table, picking up his plate and extending his palm out in his mother’s direction, “I'll get the dishes.”

As Gerard washed the dishes, he avoided thinking about ever having to tell Frank he was a witch. 

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

That night, Gerard found himself restlessly laying in bed. He tossed and turned for what was, realistically, only a couple of hours, but for what definitely felt like an eternity and a half. Although he wanted to tell himself it was just the wrecked sleep schedule he'd developed after graduating high school, Gerard knew that the true reason behind this restless night was his own mind.

Gerard wasn't usually a terribly anxious person. Of course, he worried about things that warranted certain concern - the night before a big exam was never pleasant - but generally, Gerard managed to walk through life without letting anxiety get the best of him. Ignoring his own emotions was a skill he'd mastered in his teens and yet, that night, it was the one thing Gerard just couldn't seem to do.

Reading excessively into conversations and social interactions was just not the kind of thing Gerard did. And yet - as you have likely surmised by the simple process of elimination - Gerard's thoughts that night were completely occupied by whatever had happened between him and Frank on Sunday.

See, a few days had passed since Frank had shown up at his door, soaking wet from the rare Southern California rain and crying due to a still mysterious cause, and Gerard hadn't told anyone about it. Mikey knew that Frank had been in the house on Sunday, but like everyone else important to Gerard, he still had no clue of what had happened between the two boys. Although he knew Ray, and maybe even Hayley, would swoon over the events that had transpired that weekend if Gerard just told them, he felt like there was something keeping him from sharing the moment with his friends. 

Like the moment was too precious to be shared.

Although he hadn't spoken to Frank about what had happened, despite seeing the boy a few times since, Gerard felt as if he didn't have to. There was something new between the two of them - comfort, like there hadn’t been before. Gerard would even say that the elusive walls between the two of them had vanished. 

Friends, he'd dare call them.

And even though the confusion regarding their strange dynamic hadn't dissipated, Gerard suddenly felt like it was okay. Like whatever tension they shared had become comfortable. Or maybe he’d grown used to it - almost like he could live with it. 

Whatever it was, Gerard now felt there was a lot more to lose if he were to ever tell Frank the truth about himself or his heart. 

What they had was more profound - albeit more fragile. 

It was then that Gerard sat up in his bed with the sudden urge to find some sort of solace. He turned on his nightlight and reached for the nearest object, grabbing the leather-bound notebook that always sat atop his bedside table. Gerard opened it to a dog-eared page he'd written the previous week, the header reading nothing but _Aphrodite._

Could she help? She was the goddess of love after all. But this time, what Gerard needed wasn't a spell. 

What Gerard needed was a prayer.

He put down his notebook and clasped his hands together above his lap, taking a deep focusing breath. What would he even tell her? 

_Pft,_ he scorned at himself. How foolish. What he couldn't do was _lie_ to the goddess. This wasn't the kind of thing he should plan, like a spell. This time, Gerard had to speak straight from his heart.

“Mother Aphrodite, goddess of love. I need your help,” Gerard whispered under his breath. “I feel…” he searched his heart for the exact words he needed to describe exactly how he felt. “I feel insecure,” he croaked. “I feel lost. Which is why I'm asking for your guidance. Please show me the way. Show me…” 

Gerard then thought about exactly what he needed. That was much easier than searching his feelings had been. “I need you to show me how to navigate this love without hurting myself or anyone else. And to give me the strength to love myself enough to know when I should retreat and when I should advance,” he sighed, clasping his hands tighter. This was exactly what he’d needed; Gerard already felt lighter and he wasn't even done with the prayer.

To wrap it up, Gerard thought he should probably be a little more respectful to the goddess. “Thank you for blessing me with this love, and thank you for listening to me tonight. Take my love with you and take me in your path. Good night,” he then concluded, feeling a small satisfied smile crawl on his face as he unclasped his hands.

When Gerard laid down again, it was only a matter of minutes before he fell fast asleep, almost like Frank’s calming presence had somehow joined him. 

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

“My mom wants to invite you over to dinner.”

Frank immediately shot up, looking away from his homework for the first time since he’d sat down at Gerard’s desk. “What?!” he asked in a panicked tone.

“Hey, don't worry,” Gerard laughed, entertained by Frank’s exaggerated reaction. “My mom’s chill.”

“What if she doesn't like me?!” Frank worried. “What if she thinks I'm, like, rude or something?”

Gerard’s forehead tightened then, “That’s not gonna happen. First of all, my mom doesn't even care if we swear at the dinner table. Second of all, you're literally the most polite person ever.”

Frank’s eyes widened almost impossibly, “Your mom lets you swear? At the dinner table?”

“Yeah. She believes we have a better connection if we feel free to express ourselves however we see fit,” Gerard shrugged off casually. This topic of conversation made him realize something though, and he suddenly cared about a completely different topic. “Wait, Frank… I just noticed,” Gerard grinned, “I've never heard you swear.”

“No, you haven't,” Frank responded, looking back down at his homework but not writing anything on it. 

Gerard poked at Frank’s shoulder, “Why not?”

He glanced up at him, a smile threatening to show up on his face, “Because I just don't do it, okay?” 

_“You don't swear?!”_ Gerard asked, shocked. “Like… at all?”

“Nope.”

“Come on, you've got to at least drop an f-bomb every now and then,” the taller boy teased. There was no way Frank just never cussed and that was the end of it. “Like, what if you stub your toe?”

Frank pursed his lips, “I say ‘ow’.”

“But what if you stub your toe extra hard?”

“Then I say ‘ow’ extra loud.”

Gerard giggled childishly, “Like a cartoon character, is that it?” 

Frank took a random pen from Gerard's desk and threw it playfully at the other boy. “Stop!” he whined, flustered. “I was just taught not to swear and so… I don't.” 

“You don't do it, like, in secret?” Gerard wondered in the tone of someone asking for a juicy piece of gossip. “If you’re in your room, do you ever just mumble ‘motherfucker’ or whatever under your breath?” He inched closer to the shorter boy and whispered, “Is it, y’know … a guilty pleasure, maybe?”

 _“No!”_ Frank exclaimed. “It’s just not in my vocabulary. I told you I just don't do it.”

Gerard refused to believe that a seventeen year old didn't swear, “Oh, come on, there’s no way.” He shook his head over and over, “Absolutely no way. Have you at least said a swear word before?” 

The shorter boy quickly went pink, reminiscent of a child caught stealing from the cookie jar. Gerard avoided thinking about how painfully adorable he was like this. “Well, yes. But I do it _very_ sparingly. I could probably count on my fingers the amount of times I've ever dropped the f-word.” Frank eyed Gerard seriously, “Don't expect to hear a swear from me so soon. That’s _if_ you ever do.” 

“Hm… I don't like the sound of that. I think you should say a swear word right now,” Gerard nudged the other with a smirk. “Go on. Say ‘fuck’.” 

Frank bit his lower lip, “I can't.” He tapped his pen on the table, stopping to twirl it every now and then. 

Gerard laughed, “Yes you can. Look, I believe in you.”

“Well, I'm _flattered,”_ Frank smirked, clearly catching on to the game Gerard was trying to play. “But it’s not gonna happen today.”

“So what you're saying is that it could happen on another day?”

Frank scrunched up his nose, “Aren't you gonna let me do my homework?!” 

Gerard raised his open palms in the air, finally giving in, “Alright, alright.” Was he convinced, however? Absolutely not. “I still think I can make you swear, though. Actually,” he raised a finger, “that shall be my next goal. I will make you drop an f-bomb one day. Maybe even make you say ‘motherfucker’ real loud.” 

“Big dreams,” Frank teased.

Gerard flopped down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a distracted smile. “Big dreams indeed, Frankie.”

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

When Mikey sat down at the lunch table that Thursday, a strange silence filled the air. He wondered if it'd be broken by his abrupt apparition, but when it wasn't and Frank and Pete continued watching him quietly, Mikey got a strange feeling about whatever was awaiting him that lunch period.

“What's going on?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Frank was the one to answer him then, “Pete has something important to tell us but he wanted you to be here for it. He didn't want to tell me until you got here.” 

“Well, I'm here,” Mikey stated, gesturing towards himself as if emphasizing he was in fact there. “What's up?”

“Uh, so…” Pete started nervously, as if he didn't really want to say whatever it was he had in mind. He sighed before continuing, “I wanted to tell you guys something, and I really hope it's alright with you because I would really hate it if it changed our friendships or whatever.”

Mikey spoke up, “Dude, it's fine,” he said reassuringly. “You know you can tell us.” He flashed Pete a warm tight lipped smile which he weakly returned. 

“Well, what I wanted to say has been on my mind for a really long time now. I’ve gotten to the point where I feel comfortable with this part of me and that’s why I wanted to share with you guys that…” he paused and took a shaky breath before adding, “I'm bi… sexual, not… lingual.”

Mikey reacted with a slow nod. “That's cool with me,” he said with a casual shrug, trying to ignore Frank’s intent glare which seemed to be fixed in his direction. “I'm happy you feel comfortable enough to tell us.” He looked over at Frank to analyze his reaction, and instead of seeing anger or rejection, all Mikey could see on Frank's face was unguarded surprise with a dash of something else. Mikey could've sworn that something else was curiosity, or maybe awe, but Frank spoke up before Mikey could become sure of himself.

“That's alright,” Frank said with a shrug, almost seeming to imitate Mikey's reaction. “I'm glad you consider us as good enough friends to tell us.”

“But, I have to say it would've been just as cool if you were secretly bilingual this whole time,” Mikey joked, trying to break the tension that still lingered around Pete. 

To Mikey’s joy, Pete let out a relieved laugh, “Yeah, sorry. Maybe I should've surprised you by speaking fluent French or something.”

 _”J’aime le bacon et le baseball,”_ Mikey then said in broken French.

Pete frowned, “You like bacon… and baseball?” 

Mikey smiled. “See? Maybe you _do_ know French,” he joked again, sharing a relaxed laugh with Pete. He momentarily looked back at Frank only to see the boy appeared to be strangely focused on his meal, not making any eye contact with the others. However, he didn't seem upset - only timid. 

Mikey made a mental note to himself to tell Gerard he was right about something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter of the year hell yeah!! 
> 
> I hope you all had a fine and dandy new year. I've been back at uni for a few days and omfg I'm already exhausted. But at least I have this fic to cheer me up :) l hope you're enjoying reading this at least half as much as I'm enjoying writing it.
> 
> Anyways, any thoughts? Something big is coming, can you guys feel it? Heheheheh
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	7. Mitra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mitra: Vedic Hindu god of friendship and harmony.

“I _told_ you Frank doesn't hate gay people!” Mikey announced proudly as he barged into the basement that very same afternoon, not even having bothered to change out of his school uniform yet.

Gerard looked up from his copy of _Crystal Spells,_ “Would’ve been nice if you knocked.”

Mikey’s entire face scrunched up around his eyes, “Did you hear what I just said, dude?! I just told you that I know Frank isn't homophobic.”

“And how do you know that?” Gerard asked, still unamused.

“Because… _someone's bisexual,”_ Mikey sang.

It was then that Gerard fully put down his book, giving his younger brother his undivided attention, “Wait, Frank's bisexual?!”

“Erm, no. Well, maybe he is, but that's not what I meant.”

Gerard sighed, “Can you please stop being cryptic? Just tell me what it is you wanna say.” Although Gerard thought it interesting to decipher cryptic clues in books and movies, Mikey was downright terrible at being mysterious. His hints never made much sense and he managed to be all the more confusing when he was excited about something, which clearly seemed to be the case that afternoon.

“Okay, so, one of our friends came out as bi today, right?” Mikey started.

“Right, and?” Gerard said, urging him to continue.

Mikey grinned from ear to ear, “And Frank was there! And… I saw his reaction.”

“Are you going to enlighten me on said reaction or just leave it at that?” 

"Remember when Hayley came out to us and you were still in the closet so you were all weird about it?" Mikey asked genuinely, as if Gerard hadn't been there when said event happened. 

The elder frowned, "Of course I remember. But I wasn't being weird."

"So, because you were being weird, I have that look permanently lasered into my brain. Y'know, the 'God I hope no one realizes I'm not straight' look? Yeah, so that's how Frank looked in that moment," Mikey concluded, sounding absolutely delighted with himself.

Gerard took a deep breath, still unimpressed with the information Mikey was bringing him, "That doesn't really mean anything. Maybe he had something else in mind, or he had a migraine, or maybe he was worried about a test. It could've been a million other things that have nothing to do with his sexuality."

 _"Come on!"_ the younger groaned loudly. "I've been telling you that Frank's not straight for what? Three weeks now? What will it take for you to finally believe me?" he whined. 

"I don't know, maybe something more concrete than 'he looked weird'?"

Mikey threw his arms up in frustration, _"Seriously?"_ He ranted, "If Frank's not straight, which he isn't, what does he have to do to convince you? Because I know he's hitting on you. Don't think that I didn't notice Frank basically making a move on you back when we were watching the game. How do you expect to find out Frank's not straight? You think he's just gonna, what? Climb on your lap and make out with you?"

Gerard's eyes widened, "Well, now that you mention it, that sounds pretty go-"

Mikey was out of the room before Gerard could finish his sentence.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

 _"AAAAAH!"_ A shrill scream suddenly came from the bathroom, making Gerard wake from his daydream immediately. Frank had only just arrived at the Way residence, barely having placed his backpack by Gerard's bed when he asked to use the restroom, which is where we currently lay our scene. 

Gerard threw his bedsheets onto the floor and shot up off his bed, "Frank, what's wrong?!" The source of the scream had undoubtedly been Frank, which understandably, did not do much for Gerard's rising anxiety over the unfolding situation.

Before long, the shorter boy emerged from the restroom, eyes wide and face pale. He ran towards Gerard and wrapped his delicate hand around the taller boy's arm urgently. "Come," Frank dragged Gerard to the bathroom - who still had absolutely no clue as to what had Frank so unnerved.

"What the fuck happened?" he questioned but did not fight against Frank's grip, rather letting himself get dragged.

Instead of responding, Frank only pointed upwards towards the top corner of Gerard's bathroom mirror once he was within the confines of the small room; Frank having shoved Gerard inside first whilst he stood in the doorway looking mortified. When Gerard finally saw where Frank had been pointing, however, he couldn't help but sigh in relief, laughing slightly to himself once he connected the dots as to what had caused Frank's exaggerated scream.

"A spider?" Gerard asked with an amused chuckle. _"This_ is why you screamed like that?"

Frank blushed like he hadn't been aware of his own overreaction. "Um..." he looked down to avoid the taller boy's gaze. "Can you… get rid of it? Please?" Frank asked in a small voice, fidgeting with his fingers.

For a long second, all Gerard did was watch Frank with an unintentional grin spread across his face. Actually, Gerard swore he was about to start _crying,_ because he thought absolutely no human being should ever be allowed to be that cute. Once he shook that off, though, he nodded, "Sure. I'll get rid of the boogie monster for you."

"Do you want me to get a cup upstairs?" 

"A cup?!" Gerard smiled mischievously. "Now there's no need for that." Without further comment, he extended his arm up towards the spider, placing his hand gently in front of it. 

All Gerard heard behind him was a sharp gasp followed by a highly panicked, _"Don't pick it up with your bare hands, you psychopath!"_ Frank got a tight grip on Gerard's shirt and tugged on it as if trying to pull the taller boy away from the spider, "What if it bites you?! Or worse, _eats you alive?!"_

It was then that the spider started gently crawling onto Gerard's hand - almost as if it sensed the shorter boy's fear. Once the spider was fully seated on the back of his hand, Gerard carefully lowered it, holding the spider at Frank's eye level. "See? No big deal." The spider wasn't massive, in fact, it was a little smaller than the palm of Gerard’s hand, but its size was significant enough to warrant some form of fear in most people - including Frank, it seemed. 

Gerard's remark clearly wasn't convincing to Frank, however, because he took a large step backwards and hid part of his body behind the door frame. "It's gonna bite you!" he exclaimed, still sounding panicked as hell.

"No it won't," Gerard said in a relaxed tone. "It's just a house spider. It hardly bites and even if it does, no harm done."

"What about the psychological damage from being around it?!" Frank insisted urgently.

Gerard smiled fondly at the other boy, "Frankie, it's just a little bug."

"Don't you 'Frankie' me right now!" Frank hissed. "Not when you're holding an actual _monster_ in your hand! You could get your eyes bitten off! Or it could lay eggs in your ears and you'd have little spiders crawling on your brain for the rest of your life!"

Gerard raised an eyebrow, choosing to ignore Frank's fantastical remark, "Are you sure you don't wanna hold it yourself?" He held the spider up to Frank, who eyed it as if it truly were some sort of abomination.

"More sure than I am of anything else in my life right now," the shorter boy said with conviction.

"Do you wanna see me put it on my forehead, then?" Gerard suggested with a smirk, slowly bringing his hand towards his own face.

It seemed like all the blood was drained from Frank's face then, because he turned white and his eyes widened like he'd seen a ghost. "Are you insane?! Spiders are evil! Just get rid of it already!"

"Alright," Gerard caved in and lowered his hand again, not wanting to make Frank actually freak out. "I'll just put it behind my closet then." Truly, Gerard really didn't want to kill this spider - it actually looked kind of cute. He found the way it was calmly sitting on his hand quite endearing and he'd be disappointed if Frank insisted on killing it. 

Luckily, Frank didn't ask Gerard to kill the spider, but rather just shook his head and said, "No! Put it outside, you weirdo!"

"Okay! I will," Gerard agreed. "But, do I at least get a 'thank you'? I'm bravely getting rid of an actual eldritch horror just for you. I think that warrants at least a ‘thank you.'"

"Thanks," Frank mumbled.

Gerard narrowed his eyes as if he hadn't heard the other boy, "Sorry, say that again?"

Frank rolled his eyes but still did as he was told. "I said thank you, Gerard," he repeated louder, a subtle smile on his lips.

"Thank you for what?"

The shorter boy sighed. "Thank you for rescuing me from that monster," he answered monotonously, although there was still a hint of playfulness on his face. "You're my hero. My knight in faded band merch.”

Gerard laughed shyly at the praise, not having expected Frank to actually play along, “You give me too much credit.”

Frank smiled. “Maybe I don't.”

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

That Saturday, Gerard was woken by the doorbell again. This time it was no longer morning when the doorbell rang, yet Gerard's feelings about being forced out of bed hadn't exactly turned positive. He grumbled annoyedly to himself and stomped up the stairs. In fact, Gerard didn't even bother to put a shirt on this time - which he only realized once he had already opened the front door.

Luckily - or perhaps unluckily - this time it wasn't Frank who was standing outside, but rather someone who Gerard was a little less pleased about seeing.

"Oh, hi Pete," Gerard greeted unenthusiastically. "Mikey's not here. He's spending the weekend with Alicia," he informed the boy outside.

Pete grimaced, "Uh, yeah, I know that. I'm here to see _you,_ nerd." 

"Huh?"

It was then that Pete held a large book up to Gerard, reading _12th Grade Biology_ on the cover. "You wanna tutor me in bio?" he asked with a fake smile. "Mikey told me you're really good at it and, erm… I could use some help."

"Is this a paid offer?" Gerard asked, not feeling thrilled at the prospect of tutoring Pete in a scientific subject. Truthfully, Gerard had already heard from Mikey that Pete generally struggled in science and math. Gerard also knew Pete had little to no disposition to change his grades in said subjects, therefore, his excitement level hadn't really been _peaked_ by the offer.

"I don't have any money," Pete lied, shooting Gerard an apologetic smile and shrugging indifferently.

"You go to private school in Los Angeles."

"Which is why I don't have any money," the younger boy argued.

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, "That's just not true, Pete. I've literally seen your house before."

"Urgh, fine!" Pete groaned in frustration, giving up on his lie. "I skipped my last bio test because I knew I was gonna fail but now I need to actually take it. And if I fail just one more test, I'm gonna fail out of the whole course, okay?" he confessed. "I'll give you, say fifteen bucks an hour?"

Gerard pondered on it briefly before throwing out, "Make it twenty." If Gerard was going to suffer the fate of tutoring Pete in biology, he might as well try to wring some more money out of the boy. Gerard had seen Pete's house up in Brentwood two years prior when picking Mikey up from a sleepover - the kid had twenty dollars to spare.

"Okay, whatever. Twenty it is." Pete then gave Gerard a look of genuine despair, "Just… help me, okay?"

"Sure," Gerard agreed, now feeling moderately sorry for the other boy. "Come in, I'll just have a snack then we can get started. You're lucky I'm like, never busy."

Pete flashed him a wide smile - this time genuine. "Thanks, you're a hero, did you know that?”

"Yeah," Gerard sighed, "I've been getting that a lot lately."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

The next day, Gerard's day definitely started out slow. After staying up late to binge a new TV show with Ray on Saturday night once Pete left, it was noon by the time Gerard woke up. Mikey was out of the house since he was still with Alicia and Donna was away to run errands, so Gerard thought to take advantage of the fact he was home alone for most of the day and brought his CD player up into the kitchen. No one can complain about the music if no one's home, right? 

He brought a few of his favorite albums upstairs and danced to some music as he cooked brunch, whistling along to the melodies absentmindedly. Gerard was almost done with making himself food when a sudden thought occurred to him.

What if he invited Frank over? Brunch was pretty romantic, right? 

Do guys like brunch? Gerard was a guy and he liked brunch. Mikey was also a guy and he liked brunch. Boys definitely like brunch.

Before he could ponder too much on whether the idea was stupid or not, Gerard wiped his hands clean on his pants and grabbed his phone off the kitchen counter; he was calling Frank by the time he even knew what he was doing. To Gerard's surprise, it wasn't long before the other boy picked up the phone, greeting him with a shy, "Hello?"

"Frank!"

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before Frank mumbled, "Yes, Gerard?"

"Do you wanna, uh… come over?" Gerard started nervously. "I'm making brunch and listening to music, and erm… there's no one else here, so I figured it'd be more fun to have some company?" he finished hesitantly.

Frank giggled through the phone, "You seriously believe that you can invite me over with the promise of food, while playing Nirvana in the background, nevertheless, and somehow expect me to not show up?"

Gerard frowned in confusion at Frank's response, "... so that's a yes?" 

"It's a _definitely,"_ Frank said simply before hanging up.

Okay, cool, Frank was coming over.

 _Fuck,_ Frank was coming over.

Gerard immediately switched off the stove and tossed his spatula at the sink, almost throwing his skillet containing fresh French toast up in the air. What the hell did he have to do? Gerard looked down at himself and quickly realized he was shirtless - alright, putting on a shirt and a clean pair of pants seemed like a good place to start. He ran downstairs, almost tripping himself as he tried to remove his socks on the way, immediately throwing them at the laundry basket once he safely made it inside his bedroom. 

The fact Gerard's pajama pants didn't rip straight down the middle while he took them off was a miracle. He put them back inside his closet - rumpling them into a ball rather than folding them - and picked out a fresh pair of pants, taking a moment to sniff them to make sure they definitely smelled clean. Gerard then picked out a random shirt and rushed to put it on, not even bothering to check what was on it.

Once being freshly clothed was no longer a concern, Gerard ran into his bathroom, scrambling to grab his toiletries. First, he decided to get his teeth clean. Although Gerard doubted the possibility of Frank ever kissing him, the chance of said event happening was never _zero,_ and the thought of having bad breath if that happened was too mortifying for Gerard to just skip brushing his teeth. Better safe than sorry.

While he was working on that, Gerard also grabbed a can of deodorant, spraying himself with what he soon realized was an almost heterosexual amount of the stuff. He stopped before he could become that much of a walking aromatic menace and put the deodorant down, thanking whatever goddess was looking out for him for the sweet reminder. Gerard then spat out his toothpaste and proceeded to gulp an almost unholy amount of mouthwash, swirling it in his mouth as he ran back upstairs, his new focus on cleaning up the mess he'd made in the kitchen.

Gerard spat out his mouthwash in the kitchen sink and rinsed his mouth haphazardly before getting to work on washing the offensive number of dirty dishes. He scrubbed them as fast as he could and simply hoped they wouldn't break and would actually become clean, because with the way he was handling them, there was no way they'd survive unscathed. By something which Gerard could only describe as fortune, none of the dishes broke, and right as he rinsed off a final spoon, the doorbell rang. 

_"Fuck,"_ Gerard cursed as he rushed to get his hands dry, then smoothing down his hair so he wouldn't look like he'd just turned his house upside down while waiting for Frank.

He swung the front door open and put on a smile which embarrassingly, was not fake. "Hey, Frank. I'm glad you came."

The shorter boy returned his smile, "Hey, no problem." His eyes scanned downwards towards Gerard's chest and he stifled a giggle, "Nice shirt."

It was then that Gerard looked down at his shirt for the first time, not having actually realized what he was wearing in his earlier scramble. When he did, however, Gerard's joy in seeing Frank immediately turned into an intense sense of mortification. This shirt had been a gag gift from Mikey from when their family drove down to Tijuana for a holiday; Mikey was fourteen then and thought it hilarious to give his brother a shirt with ridiculously stupid text on it.

_DTF: Down To Fiesta!_

Gerard took a deep breath and briefly considered excusing himself to go pray to Aphrodite, because only divine intervention could save Gerard from the utter embarrassment of this situation. "Ha… yeah," he laughed awkwardly. "It's, uh… Mikey's. He bought it," Gerard lied. Well, it was only a half-lie. Mikey did indeed buy the shirt - it just wasn't _his._

"Well," Frank humored him, "I'm starting to think Mikey has a great sense of humor."

"Ha, ha..." Gerard forced a smile, "yeah..." He quickly changed the subject, "You wanna come in?"

Frank answered cheekily, "I didn't come here just to stand on your porch, did I?" Without further comment, he stepped inside the house, making his way to the kitchen right away, "I'm just following the sound of Kurt Cobain," he joked. 

Gerard followed him back inside, but before going back into the kitchen, he removed his shirt and hid it under a cushion on the couch. "Do you wanna eat anything?" he asked the shorter boy once he joined him in the kitchen, where he lowered slightly the volume on his music box.

Frank was busying himself with the coffee machine, "I think I'll just have some coffee. I ate before going to church and I'm not that hungry ye-" he stopped dead in his tracks once he looked up at Gerard. "Y-you..." he stuttered, "you took your shirt off."

"Oh yeah, you know… it's hot," Gerard stalled. "You know… L.A. weather and whatever. It's so hot in this house."

"Weren't you in here before?" Frank pointed out.

Gerard chuckled, "Uh, yeah. But, you know, more people in the house makes it even hotter. Physics and… stuff."

"Ah… sure," Frank said with a brief shake of his head. "Can you help me work this coffee machine?" he then asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, let me get that for you." Gerard gently nudged the other boy to make himself room by the machine. He quickly grabbed a mug from the drying rack and began making some fresh coffee. "I also made French toast in case you wanna eat some," Gerard offered, trying to sound as casual as humanly possible.

"Well, I'm not gonna say _no,"_ Frank accepted graciously. When Gerard handed him the coffee mug, he wondered, "Where do you keep your sugar?"

"It's on the table," Gerard said, pointing towards the breakfast table. The shorter boy quickly took a seat and proceeded to add an obscene amount of sugar to his coffee; Gerard lost count after Frank added the fourth spoonful of the stuff to his beverage. His eyes widened, "Holy shit Frankie, do you also like some coffee with your sugar or do you just have it pure?"

Frank looked up at him, "Are you gonna make fun of me and my sweet tooth again?"

"More like a sweet _denture."_

"Aren't you gonna eat?!" Frank exclaimed with a smile. 

Gerard laughed but still gave up on it, "Yeah, yeah." He took two plates and put a slice of French toast on each, placing them both gently on the breakfast table. Whilst he made himself some coffee, Gerard thought to ask Frank, "When are you taking your cast off?"

Frank shrugged indifferently, "In a week, maybe. The doctor needs to have a look. But he says I'll definitely have it off by my birthday, so that's good."

"Right! Your birthday's coming up!" Gerard took his freshly brewed coffee and joined Frank at the table. "Any plans for that? Eighteen's a big one."

"Not really. But it's on a Friday night, so I still have school for most of the day."

"What about the evening?" Gerard asked, trying to subtly invite himself to hang out with Frank on his birthday.

Frank looked up as if thinking, "Well, my parents want to go to church after school so the priest can like, bless me in my transition into adulthood, but after that I've got nothing." He then smirked, "You know, if you want to hang out with me, you should just say it. What if Mikey and Pete want to steal me away?" Frank remarked impishly.

"Only if you admit you want me to grace you with my presence on that special day," Gerard retorted, matching Frank's tone. 

Frank bit the corner of his bottom lip through a smile, but before he could say anything, the quiet grunge music that had been playing earlier stopped altogether. Now that the kitchen was silent, Gerard felt like a sudden void was created in the room, and he rapidly thought on how to fill it again. "You wanna choose the next album?" Gerard offered. "There's a pile by the music box."

"It would be my honor," Frank said before standing back up, picking through the small stack of CDs by the player. He chose rather fast, though, because barely a few seconds passed before bright punk music started playing again. 

Gerard recognized the album immediately and grinned, _"Celebrity Skin?"_

"Of course," Frank responded as he sat back down, picking up a fork and looking down at his food as if figuring out how to eat it.

"It's the album you picked out from my desk that day we met," Gerard observed. 

Frank glanced up at him briefly, "I know. That's why I chose it." 

There was a short moment in which Gerard could've sworn that there was something warm between them, something romantic yet domestic - not new but strangely familiar. However, the moment was gone as soon as Gerard noticed what it was, because Frank looked back down towards his food and frowned, nipping the moment in the bud before it had the chance to blossom. 

When Gerard snapped out of his short trance, he realized why Frank was frowning - he couldn't cut his food with his broken arm. "You want me to cut that for you?" he offered.

"Please?" Frank pleaded.

Gerard laughed lightly but still reached forward, getting to work on cutting the toast into bite-sized pieces. Instead of making new conversation while Gerard did this, Frank spent a few seconds simply watching him, almost as if he were lost in thought rather than lost for words. However, it seemed like he did indeed have something to say, because Frank suddenly lowered his voice and uttered, "You know, my mother always says that service is the purest form of love."

"Why is that?" Gerard wondered genuinely, looking up at Frank without realizing it. 

Frank met his eyes and shot him a small smile, "Because it's selfless."

"Huh. I would've thought it's because you'd wanna kiss their ass until they pay attention to you," Gerard joked, this time becoming startled by the sudden intimacy in the air and not knowing what else to do with it.

Frank laughed, "Maybe that's part of it too."

The taller boy finished cutting up the toast into small pieces and leaned back into his chair, "All done. You want me to feed it to you and pretend it's a little airplane?"

"Thanks for the kind offer," Frank answered sarcastically. "But that won't be necessary," he said, picking up his fork and taking a piece of toast into his mouth. Frank made a sound in response to the food Gerard pretended not to hear before mumbling, "Wow, that's so good!"

"Good enough to make you say, 'fuck, that's good'?"

Frank swallowed down. "You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

"It was worth a shot," Gerard said with a shrug before digging into his own food. It did indeed taste good - way to go, he told himself.

It was then that a slow rock song started playing, and Frank put down his fork before gently leaning his head on his hand. He closed his eyes and smiled dreamily, "This one's my favorite by them." Gerard said nothing, somehow understanding that Frank wanted to enjoy the song more than he wanted to talk. About a minute into the song, though, Frank spoke up again, "You know, I've always wondered what it's like over there."

"Where?" 

Frank grinned, "Malibu."

Right, of course. That was the song's name. _Malibu._ Gerard almost swatted his own forehead then. "It's beautiful," Gerard recalled from when he'd been there.

"I'll go one day," Frank said, his eyes dark yet sparkling more than ever. It was a look that made Gerard want to grant his every wish.

He suddenly got a crazy idea.

"We should go. Like, right now."

Frank sat up, his eyebrows almost all the way up his forehead. "What?" 

"Yeah! We should go right now!" Gerard repeated, this time a lot more sure in his conviction. "Malibu is like, an hour drive from here! I'll take you there right now. Finish your food then I'll drive us both to Malibu."

"Are you serious?" Frank asked with a smile that crinkled his eyes in a way Gerard thought he could easily get used to seeing. 

Gerard nodded, "Yeah! Are you in?"

There was a brief second in which Gerard worried the shorter boy would decline, but when his smile didn't waiver for even a second, Gerard knew what the answer was before it could even come out of Frank's mouth. 

"Only if you bring this CD so we can listen to it in the car."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boys are going to Malibu :) What will happen there? :)
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	8. Ra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ra: Egyptian god of the sun. Generally depicted with the body of a human and the head of a hawk.

It was a beautiful day in Southern California. 

The sun was shining bright and Gerard couldn't see a single cloud in the sky. 

Frank had decided to open the passenger window and lean against the door so he could feel the gentle breeze against his face while he gazed out at the Pacific. Intermittently, Gerard would briefly take his eyes off the road to sneak a peek at the other boy - doing his absolute best to be subtle about it. Gerard had also kept his promise and brought along the _Celebrity Skin_ CD, which actually turned out to be a great idea; the bright rock music was simply perfect for the short road trip to Malibu.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Frank said with a smile that Gerard could hear rather than see. "My parents have no clue."

"I'll return you to them safe and sound," Gerard replied lightheartedly. "That's a promise."

Frank laughed, "Of course you will. The last thing you want is my military dad after you."

 _"Shit,_ right..." Gerard slowed down the car a little bit, suddenly becoming even more worried about putting Frank in danger. Even though he wasn't a bad driver, Gerard was still in the mediocre tier of drivers, so slowing down the car a little couldn't be a bad decision. 

Frank seemed to find this funny. "Are you that scared?" he asked with a laugh.

"The only things I know about your dad are that he's in the military and that he's Catholic, so yeah, I have to say I'm a little scared of him. _Is_ he scary?" Gerard inquired, a little afraid of whatever answer the other boy had in store.

"He's not that scary," Frank shrugged. "I'd say my mom's a lot scarier, actually. But you shouldn't worry about either of them; if anything bad happens I'll take full responsibility."

“That doesn't do much for my anxiety, but thanks, Frankie.”

There was a brief pause before Frank wondered offhandedly, "Why do you call me that? You call me 'Frankie' a lot."

"Well..." Gerard pondered on it for a short while - looking out at the nearly empty highway ahead - but the answer was quite simple, truthfully. To him it just made sense to call Frank by that nickname. "Your name is Frank and you're small, so… you're Frankie."

"I'm not that small!" Frank protested childishly. "I'm taller than my mom!"

Gerard laughed. "Oh, come on, how tall are you? 5'7?" he asked mockingly.

"5'6, actually..." Frank admitted shyly. "But you're not even that tall yourself!" he whined, stomping his feet on the floor of the car. "You look like you're about 5'9, which is just the average height for American men."

The fact Frank just had that factoid at hand was criminally funny to Gerard, "Do you get into a lot of arguments about your height?"

"I plead the Fifth," Frank laughed along with Gerard. He abruptly changed the subject, "Hey, we should play a game! I love roadtrip games. Let's do 'never have I ever'." 

The taller boy was quick to agree, "Sure." He personally didn't care much for those types of games, but Frank's excitement alone was enough to convince him.

"So, whoever loses..." Frank stopped to think for a few moments before announcing, "has to buy the other an ice cream when we get there."

"You just want to target me so I can continue funding your sugar addiction."

Frank didn't even pretend otherwise. "Then win the game, silly!" He held his open hand up and said, "Okay, I'll start. I'll keep track of yours too so you can keep driving. Never have I ever..." Frank pursed his lips as he thought of an interesting suggestion, "smoked weed."

Gerard frowned, "You've _never_ smoked weed before?"

"Nope." Frank gasped, "Wait, you have?"

"I grew up in California."

"So that's one down for you..." Frank giggled with a sort of amusement Gerard didn't hear often. "Your turn."

Gerard bit his lip thoughtfully, "Hm, okay. Never have I ever…" he tried thinking of something that would definitely get Frank. What did Frank do? He went to church, right? But if Gerard said he'd never been to church - which was true - Frank would definitely suspect something fishy. He already knew Gerard had gone to the same Catholic school Mikey went to, so that surely couldn't be it. What else? Frank had also lived in quite a few different places - that gave Gerard an idea. "Never have I ever been to the East Coast."

"You've never been to the East Coast?!" Frank exclaimed incredulously. "Well, that's one down for me," he said as he lowered a finger. "Alright, my turn. Never have I ever been in a serious relationship."

"So you _are_ targeting me!" 

Frank grinned, "Well, why would I play a game only to lose it?"

That was actually a pretty fair point. "Alright," Gerard concurred, "I'm down another one." He was quick to ask something new, "Never have I ever crashed a car."

"Hm… I haven't done that one either. Never have I ever played spin the bottle."

Gerard was the one to gasp this time, "Are you kidding me? You've _never_ done that?! Jesus, Frankie, what did you even _do_ during your teen years?"

Frank shook his head from side to side, "More than you'd think."

Okay, that was ominous as fuck. What did that even mean? Gerard barely managed to contain his desire to investigate - there was clearly something there - but he eventually rationalized that whatever it was Frank had to say, he'd say it if he truly wanted the other boy to know. "Alright, uh… never have I ever sneaked out at night."

"You've never sneaked out?!" Frank asked in disbelief.

"You _have?!"_

The shorter boy smiled, "A few times."

"So you're telling me..." Gerard smirked, "that the precious, good little Catholic Frank Iero has sneaked out of the house in the dead of night multiple times?" Now that Gerard said it out loud, it somehow sounded even more surreal. "I don't believe it. I'd have to see it myself."

Little did Gerard know, he'd see it much sooner than he thought.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

"Welcome to Malibu!" Gerard announced proudly as he shut the door of his car, stepping out into the sidewalk. The two boys had scored an excellent parking spot by the beach - courtesy of Frank, who had actually spotted it - and the afternoon was still in its peak, hot and bright. 

Frank followed the other boy outside and was quick to remind him of their deal, "You owe me an ice cream. Don't forget."

"I have a subtle feeling that you won't let me forget it."

"You know me so well," Frank said with ironic drama, placing a hand over his heart. "It's pretty hot though, so if I'm allowed to cash in on the ice cream, now would be a great time." He joined Gerard on the sidewalk and momentarily shielded his eyes from the sun, as if trying to prove his point further.

Gerard chuckled breathlessly, "You could just ask for some ice cream, you know. I'm not a monster. I'd probably get you some anyways, without the whole game thing."

"Good to know," Frank responded playfully. He soon grabbed Gerard's shirt and began pulling on it, trying to drag him onto the road. "Look, there’s an ice cream shop right there!" Frank said, nodding towards the ice cream shop on the other side of the street.

“Alright, Jesus, I'm coming!” Gerard followed Frank across the street and inwardly prayed a car wouldn't hit the two of them, considering Frank’s complete and utter disregard for road safety. “No need to get aggressive.” 

Frank decided to ignore Gerard’s protests and simply continued dragging him into said ice cream shop, where he finally let go of the taller boy’s shirt. Once they were inside of the shop, however, it seemed like Frank suddenly became aware of other people's eyes on him, because he rapidly withdrew his hand from Gerard and shoved it into his pocket. "Sorry," he apologized with a nervous smile.

"You don't need to apologize, I was just worried you were gonna get run over back there," Gerard replied softly, smoothing down his shirt where Frank had been grabbing it. He then narrowed his eyes, "You didn't even look before you crossed the street. What if you got hit, Frankie?"

The shorter boy frowned for a moment, but only for a moment - such that Gerard would've missed it had he not been watching Frank's face intently. "Ice cream?" Frank then suggested with a grin, clearly trying to steer the conversation someplace else.

"Go ahead," Gerard said with a gentle sigh. As if he had it in him to say 'no.'

Before Gerard could even approach the cashier, Frank was already having a look at the display, seemingly in awe at the series of flavors available. It wasn't long before he turned to the cashier and asked, "Can I have two scoops of chocolate caramel explosion please?" 

Gerard laughed at Frank's awfully sweet choice of flavor but said nothing of it, instead adding, "And one scoop of coffee for me." He briefly felt thankful to his past self for agreeing to tutor Pete, because the extra forty bucks in his wallet were really coming in handy that evening. Everything in Malibu was expensive - including the ice cream, which ended up costing a nearly criminal eighteen dollars. 

Once the two boys got their respective desserts and got settled at a table, Frank was the first to give a verdict on the ice cream in the form of a strangled groan followed by, "That's amazing!" He took a little spoonful from his pot and offered it to Gerard, "Try it."

"You're gonna feed it to me?" Gerard laughed.

Frank briefly looked around at the other people in the shop, but it seemed like he made up his mind about something then, because he quickly redirected his gaze to the boy across him and smiled, "Just eat it!"

Even though Gerard knew the ice cream would be way too sweet, he still accepted the spoonful Frank offered him. "Frankie, that's _so_ sweet." He rubbed his tongue along the roof of his mouth as if trying to get rid of the offensively sweet taste. "Are you even gonna be able to eat all of that? I'd barf if I ate just one more spoonful of that shit."

"Let me try yours," Frank took his spoon and dipped it into Gerard's ice cream without even asking if he could. Before Gerard could make a sarcastic remark about that, Frank shoved the spoonful of Gerard's coffee ice cream into his mouth and winced, _"Argh,_ that's bitter!" 

"Yeah, it's coffee flavored. And not how _you_ take your coffee."

Frank playfully stuck his tongue out, "Stop being mean about my amazing taste!"

Gerard shot him a skeptical look, "I will..." He then raised a finger, "But, only if you tell me to fuck off. I think it would be good for you to cuss a little."

"Nice try." Frank frowned, "Also, I don't wanna tell you to eff off. It's _mean."_

"As if you have the ability to be mean," Gerard replied sardonically.

Now Frank looked moderately offended, "Hey! I can totally be mean if I want to." He dipped his thumb into his pot - which by now was empty except for a bit of melted ice cream - and reached across the table to spread some of it onto Gerard's nose. The taller boy flinched and tried to evade the attack but it was far too late - the brown spot on his face was already making Frank crack up. He also anticipated that Gerard would try to reach for a napkin and grabbed the napkin holder, hiding it from the other boy.

"Frankie, gimme a napkin!" Gerard ordered, although it didn't come out nearly as serious as he intended it to because Frank's contagious laugh made him crack up halfway through his sentence.

"Hm…" Frank pretended to give it some thought before responding, "Sorry, I don't think so."

Gerard then dipped his thumb into his own ice cream and rapidly reached over to do the same to Frank. Although the smaller boy tried to shield himself with his hand, Gerard was a whole arm up on him - which meant it was rather easy to win that particular battle - and soon Frank was left with a matching dark spot on his face. Now that Gerard saw it, it was actually rather funny, and he started cackling right along with Frank. There was something new in the air right then, Gerard felt - this was comfortable... _easy._

"I can't even lick it off," Frank complained, his eyes still wrinkled from the laughter. "You had to get the world's most bitter flavor!"

Gerard ran his finger along his own nose and licked the melted ice cream off it, "Urgh. Still sickeningly sweet. How can your body even handle the amount of sugar you force it to consume?!"

"My body is fine, thank you very much," Frank sassed. "In fact, you should start eating more sweets for that attitude because you're being a tad too bitter, considering we're in Ma-"

A female voice suddenly interrupted their conversation, "Excuse me, gentlemen?" Judging by the logo on this woman's shirt, she was an employee at the ice cream shop, and the two boys quickly exchanged confused looks. The woman soon cleared up the reason for her apparition, "You are producing an unnecessary amount of noise and it's disrupting the other customers. Sorry, but we're gonna have to ask you to leave the establishment," she said with a falsely apologetic smile.

Frank shot Gerard an indecipherable look and continued looking at him as he apologized to the employee. "Sorry, ma'am. We'll leave right away," he said with a smirk. As promised, the two boys left the shop, discreetly tossing away their ice cream pots in a trash can as they headed out. As soon as they were outside, however, it only took a few seconds of looking at each other before the two of them cracked up again, holding onto one another as they cackled loudly. 

Frank poked at Gerard's shoulder excitedly. "I can't _believe_ we got kicked out of an ice cream shop!" He shook his head in disbelief, "Of all places!"

"Did you have 'get kicked out of an ice cream shop in Malibu' in your bucket list of things to do before turning eighteen?" 

"No!" Frank smiled, "Maybe I should've."

It was in that moment that Gerard noticed Frank still had a smidge of ice cream on his nose, and he chuckled to himself before mumbling, "Frankie, hold on." He stepped closer to the smaller boy and placed a hand on the back of his neck to hold him in place as he wiped the ice cream off his nose. When Gerard tore his eyes off the lower half of Frank's face and glanced back up at his eyes, he noticed the boy was staring right back up at him, eyes so dark and wide that Gerard could see his own reflection within their depths. 

"We should go sit at the beach," Frank suddenly spoke. He tore his eyes away from Gerard and looked somewhere behind him, "The sun is starting to set."

Gerard lowered his hand and wiped his finger carelessly on his shirt. "Yeah," he answered breathlessly. There was something about the moment that Gerard couldn't yet interpret, but he knew there was definitely something unique about the way Frank had looked at him back then. Regardless of any unanswered doubts, the two of them crossed the street - carefully this time - and took a seat on the sand, their backs against a stone wall separating the beach from the sidewalk. 

For a few minutes, they watched the sunset in silence. However, as had just happened a few weeks prior when Frank and Gerard watched _Jennifer's Body_ together, this silence wasn't awkward. Rather, it was pleasant, as if they were both taking the time to appreciate the true feeling of the other's company - playful yet soothing. 

While the sky turned to gorgeous pinks and oranges and the waves continued crashing, Gerard couldn't help but ponder on what all of this meant. He'd asked Aphrodite for guidance, and now, he felt oddly well placed. Instead of feeling lost, like he'd felt earlier, Gerard was wholly present then. It didn't _matter_ if Frank ever felt the same, because the safety of this particular moment was enough to mend a heartbreak before it could even happen. But _why_ did this change occur? Gerard asked himself over and over and yet came to no conclusion.

"You know, I just decided something," Frank ushered, barely above a whisper. 

Gerard turned to look at him, "What did you decide?"

Frank looked back at him, but only for a short second before he gazed back out at the horizon. Gerard wondered what was going through the other boy's head. A smile crept onto his face then, small but genuine. "I decided that I don't want to leave."

"Uh… we have to get back to L.A. eventually, Frankie," Gerard said quietly.

Frank giggled, "No, not that." He muttered contemplatively, "I mean I don't wanna move with my parents again. I wanna stay here. In California."

"Your dad's being moved again?"

Frank shrugged, "He was never meant to be here for long. Originally he was only gonna be stationed in California for two years, but now he just got notice that he's being moved to Hawaii next year." He turned to Gerard and shot him a smile, "But it doesn't matter, because I'm not going with him."

Gerard returned Frank's smile, "It would be our honor to continue housing you."

The shorter boy laughed but quickly got serious again, "If I stay..." he muttered, "can you promise me something?"

"Promise you what?" Gerard asked softly. 

Frank bit his lip, not flirtatiously but rather anxiously, and took a second before saying, "Promise me you won't just leave me?"

Gerard didn't even have to think about it. "I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something's coming soon... can you _feel_ it? Heheehehhhehe
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	9. Virgin Mary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Virgin Mary: virgin mother of Jesus of Nazareth in the Christian faith.

Tutoring Pete in biology proved to be a much more difficult task than Gerard had anticipated.

It wasn't that Pete was _dumb_ per se, but the boy was just awfully stubborn, which made him particularly difficult to handle when he was convinced that a wrong answer was indeed correct - which happened way too often considering Pete's awful scientific skills.

 _"It's A!"_ Pete insisted, slamming his hand onto the table. "It has to be A!"

"Except it's not, Pete," Gerard sighed tiredly. "It's C. I already explained it to you twice."

Pete crossed his arms defensively and shot Gerard a challenging look, "Hm, alright. Why is A wrong then?"

Gerard tried his absolute best not to roll his eyes. "Because animal cells don't have chloroplasts, Pete. That's like, the main thing that distinguishes plant cells from animal cells. Plants have chloroplasts because they do photosynthesis," he explained as clearly as he could.

The other boy, unconvinced, opened his textbook to a page showing an animal cell diagram and held it up to Gerard. He pointed at a figure on the page and proceeded to ask, "Then what are _these?!"_

"Those are mitochondria."

Pete furrowed his eyebrows, "Then why are they also," he turned to the next page, which contained a diagram of a plant cell, _"here?!"_

Gerard took a deep breath and explained his point for the third time, "Because plant cells also need mitochondria. They perform respiration, which both plants and animals need."

"Then why the fuck do plants do photosynthesis?" Pete asked in indignation.

"Because that's how they make food, Pete."

Pete's eyes widened, _"Plants don't eat?!"_

Gerard slammed his head against the table and prayed that some deity would give him the patience to get through this tutoring session. 

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Frank barged into Gerard’s bedroom on a certain Tuesday afternoon with unusual haste. “Guess who got their cast removed?!” he announced with juvenile excitement, showing off his cast-free arm as if it were adorned in the world's most expensive jewelry.

“Oh wow!” Gerard put down his pencil and smiled at the other boy from his desk. “Looks good as new.”

“Now you have to watch out!” Frank leapt onto Gerard’s bed and flopped onto his back. “I can fight you if I want to now.” 

“Fight me?” Gerard smirked, amused. 

Frank nodded, “Yeah, I can kick your butt in a fight now.” He giggled and balled his hands up, pretending to take a fighting stance, “Watch out, you never know when I'm gonna pounce.”

“I'm terrified,” Gerard remarked sarcastically. “I’m scared for my life. Words cannot describe the fear that has been stricken into my heart.” 

Frank laughed, "Alright, you don't have to lie, silly." He playfully smacked Gerard's arm and redirected the conversation, "What are you up to?" 

"You know I'm never up to much, Frankie. What _you're_ up to is probably a lot more interesting," Gerard answered with a sigh. "I was just drawing until you arrived, nothing major." At that, Gerard remembered to continue his drawing and he picked up his pencil again, gazing down at his sketchbook as he looked for something on it to improve.

Frank gasped softly, "You draw?!" He got up from Gerard's bed and rushed to his desk, "Let me see!"

Gerard clutched his sketchbook against his chest, "No! It's not that good, Frankie. It's just a stupid hobby."

"Everyone who says they're bad at something turns out to be really good at that thing," Frank stated with confidence. "Besides, even if you're bad, I'm not gonna judge you! I just wanna see," he whined. 

Gerard couldn't help but feel hesitant. He didn't really show anyone his art. "Frankie..."

The smaller boy looked at him with his beady eyes and made a sad face, _"Please?"_

"Alright, fine," Gerard gave up, "but don't get your expectations too high. I'm not that good." He slowly turned his sketchbook around to show the other boy but kept on holding onto it - Gerard felt like handing someone his sketchbook was almost like handing them his unlocked phone. It was strangely nerve wracking.

Frank placed his fingertips gently on the page the sketchbook was turned to - the one Gerard had been working on when he got there - and grinned widely, his eyes shining bright. "It's really good, Gee! What are you even on about?" The drawing Frank was looking at truly wasn't Gerard's best work, at least he didn't think so. It was just a rushed drawing of a cat and Gerard truly did not understand why Frank was so enamored by it. Especially not when he asked, "Can I please keep it?"

"You wanna _keep_ it?!"

Frank shot him a fake scowl, "Yes, and you have to give it to me because my birthday's this week."

That was easier to agree to than showing his art had been, so Gerard was quick to rip out the page and hand it over to the other boy. "Here you go, then. I don't really know why you want a shitty drawing of a cat for your birthday but… it's all yours."

Frank looked genuinely happy about being given the drawing for a reason Gerard did not understand in the slightest. "Thank you so much," he said as he stared down at the drawing, still smiling. After a few seconds, he folded the paper in half and pocketed it carefully - Gerard momentarily wondered what Frank saw in the drawing that he didn't. It wasn't long before Frank was back on the move, this time grabbing a CD from where it sat atop Gerard's desk and bringing it with him as he laid back down on the other boy's bed, staring up at the CD cover with an expression Gerard couldn't read that well.

"You know… I should get this album," Frank said, still staring up at the CD, which Gerard recognized as _Celebrity Skin_ by Hole, the album they'd listened to on the way to and from Malibu. "It reminds me of our trip whenever I listen to a song from it." 

Gerard frowned, "You don't have that album?"

"No," Frank frowned back. "I have an album by them but it's not this one."

Gerard inwardly slapped himself before throwing out, "You can have my copy!" He couldn't just keep on granting Frank's every wish like this. Gerard mentally called himself an idiot and yet did not backtrack on his words, instead deciding to stick by them because now, he actually wanted Frank to have the album.

"Are you serious?!" Frank exclaimed. "But you love this album."

Gerard shrugged, "And so do you. I can just get another copy of it." He tried to play it off cool, "God knows I listen to it way too much anyways. It's probably a good thing you're getting it off my hands." He felt like Frank could see straight through him with the way he was looking at him, and yet Gerard strangely did not feel embarrassed.

It was also in that moment that Frank made up his mind about something.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

As previously established, sometimes rare events happen simply because they are not downright impossible. So long as the chance of a specific event happening is bigger than zero, it remains a possibility, even if the probability of said event happening is as close to zero as can mathematically be. 

Anyways, this is a very long winded way of saying: on a certain Thursday - October 30th, to be exact - Gerard Way went outside voluntarily. 

Now, Gerard did not know why he felt compelled to go outside on that particular day, considering he had never felt compelled to go outside before, but he still took it as a sign from above that there was something that he needed to see. Something that belonged to the outside world rather than to the small confines of his basement bedroom. In the end, Gerard opted to just aimlessly walk around the block late in the afternoon after the satanically warm weather died down a bit. He noticed some of his neighbors eyeing him a little weird, but he had to understand that in their point of view, a disheveled eighteen-year-old who they had never seen walking around before was a bit of a strange sight.

It was halfway through his walk that Gerard spotted a young man and an equally young woman making out on the porch of a house, and at first, Gerard opted to just ignore them. However, on his way back, Gerard couldn't help but look at the couple a little more closely. And that was exactly when he noticed something - he recognized both of those people. 

The girl was none other than Alicia, Mikey's girlfriend.

And the guy she was kissing was definitely not Mikey.

Once he looked even more closely, Gerard identified the guy as some dude named Trent, who he vaguely remembered from high school. Truthfully, he wouldn't have recognized the guy at all had he not been wearing the school's old basketball jersey, which was his permanent attire back in high school. Before the two of them could spot him, Gerard ran back home, hoping that he wouldn't pass out from some form of heat stroke before he got to his house.

Should he tell Mikey?

No, what a stupid question - of _course_ he should tell Mikey.

Gerard swung open the front door to find Mikey in the living room, drinking Diet Coke as he watched a baseball game. He raised an eyebrow at his brother, likely questioning the aggressiveness behind his entrance, yet Gerard couldn't get the words out straight away. "What is it, nerd?" Mikey asked with a casual shrug. "You look like you're gonna shit yourself. Reel it in, man."

Gerard frowned. "Mikey..." he started sadly.

"What the fuck is it, dude?" Mikey insisted crankily, looking inconvenienced as Gerard had interrupted his baseball game. 

There was a long pause before Gerard rapidly blurted out, _"Alicia's cheating on you."_ He somehow felt guilty as fuck even though he wasn't the one who had done any cheating. 

"What?" Mikey said blankly, his expression unreadable.

"I mean… I saw her kissing another guy, Mikes," Gerard clarified in a soft tone. He felt like absolute shit.

There was yet another long pause before Mikey mumbled, "You're lying."

"... huh?"

"You're lying!" Mikey raised his voice and briefly stopped to lower the volume of the television before he continued, "You hate Alicia, Gerard, I know you do! You want me to break up with her because you hate her for no reason so now you're telling me that you saw her kiss someone else!"

Gerard sighed weakly, "Mikey..."

"And the fact you just thought this would work?!" the younger continued yelling like Gerard hadn't spoken at all. "I can't believe you would do this to me, man! You don't see me telling you that Frank's straight and that it's never gonna work between you guys." 

Now Gerard was a little annoyed. "Why would I lie to you about that, Mikes?! Yeah, I'll admit I don't _like_ Alicia, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna fucking _lie_ to you about her just to break you guys up!" By now he was almost matching Mikey's volume, "Besides, I know what I saw, okay?!"

"Gerard, just..." Mikey crossed his arms and looked away from the elder, "stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

Gerard huffed in disbelief, "Stop sticking your _dick_ where it doesn't belong!"

"Oh that's rich, coming from the guy who wants to stick his dick into one of my best friends."

Ouch. Now _that_ was a low blow. "That's an irrelevant jab at me and you know it."

Mikey rolled his eyes, _"Fine,_ but I'm still mad that you thought you could just come in here and try to break me up with Alicia just because you don't like her. You don't even have a reason for not liking her. She didn't even do anything to you."

"I don't like her because she's a _bitch,_ Mikey!"

The younger shot Gerard a disappointed look, "That's not a very nice thing to say about a woman."

"Yeah, normally I would agree, but she's literally cheating on you!"

"What's going on here, boys?" A feminine voice entered the room with the click-clack of high heels. Donna crossed her arms and looked back and forth between her two sons, "Would anyone care to explain the yelling here? I'm trying to study up on a potion and I can't even hear my own thoughts with you two screaming at each other like that."

Mikey decided to speak up first. "Gerard's lying to me because he wants me to break up with Alicia," he said snarkily. 

"I'm not, though!" Gerard responded defensively. "I saw Alicia kissing another guy but Mikey doesn't believe me." 

"Alright, alright," Donna stepped in and raised a hand to stop the two of them arguing. "Gerard, darling, come with me," she said, motioning for Gerard to follow her as she stepped further into the house, ultimately leading him into the study. His mother had indeed been studying up - there were opened books all over the desk and he recognized her neat handwriting on the margins of some of them. Gerard briefly wondered whether he was in trouble. "Sit," Donna signaled towards a lounge chair as she sat down on a desk chair. The boy stiffly took a seat and waited for his mother to say something else.

"Is it true?" she eventually asked. "You saw Alicia kissing someone else?"

Gerard nodded _yes._

Donna sighed. "Then be patient with your brother, sweetheart," she advised softly. "And before you say he doesn't believe you, don't worry, he does. He's not mad at you."

"Sure seemed like he was," Gerard scoffed.

"He's not," Donna shook her head. "He's mad at himself, darling. Mikey's upset because even if he didn't see what you saw, you planted a seed of doubt in his head. Not only in Alicia, but in himself too," she said calmly yet firmly. "Your brother's upset because you were the one who realized Alicia was cheating, not him. Now he's probably looking back at moments when he could've surmised the same but didn't, for whatever reason. He's mad at himself for not seeing it sooner."

What Donna was saying did in fact make sense. Gerard took a deep breath to calm himself down and thought to ask his mother, "How do you know that?"

Donna tilted her head to the side and smiled gently, "Would he be that mad if he didn't believe you?" She crossed her legs and leaned in a little closer to her son to usher, "If he actually didn't believe you, he wouldn't be that mad. He would just say you're lying and not bother to argue with you. You know your brother's not the fighting type, darling. You really shook him up if he yelled at you like that."

Shit. That _was_ true. Mikey really wasn't the fighting type, and he especially wasn't the type to raise his voice. Now that his mother had explained the situation like that, Mikey's actions made a lot more sense. 

"Give him some time, alright?" Donna continued, still speaking softly yet with conviction. "Getting cheated on is very difficult, baby. You know that. Mikey just needs a little bit of time. And be there when he does come around, yeah?"

"Of course."

"Alright, baby." Donna leaned back against her desk chair and suddenly took upon a rather jovial tone, "What about your boy, darling? His name was Frank, right?"

Gerard chuckled under his breath and scratched his head, "Yeah, Frank. I guess it's alright. We're much closer now. But I have no idea if he likes me back."

"What's stopping you from asking him out, dear?" 

Now that was a question Gerard wasn't prepared to answer. He took a few seconds to search his heart for the true reason why he hadn't done that yet - Gerard didn't really like lying to his mother - and honestly, there was only one correct answer, "I guess I'm just scared."

"Love is a scary thing, baby. Especially when you throw yourself into it. It's like jumping off a cliff and hoping there's a safety net somewhere." She then raised a finger, "But I will tell you something. When you and Frank hang out, do you feel..." she took a moment to consider her words and completed, "like you're at peace? Like everything will ultimately be okay so long as you stay in that moment?"

Gerard smiled absentmindedly, "Yeah."

"Then that's your safety net, sweetheart."

Gerard thought his mother definitely knew something he didn't.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Gerard going outside was not the only rare event that happened that day. 

In fact, it could be argued that something even rarer happened on the other side of the city. Frank sat in church that Thursday evening not really paying attention to what the Father was telling his parents, trying to tune out all the stuff about how he should watch out for sin in adulthood much more than he'd done up to now; in all honesty, Frank had already heard this exact speech from his mother, hence why he was deliberately ignoring the Father that evening.

"I suppose it's time I let you all go," he finally concluded, almost making Frank shoot up from where he sat on the pew. "Once again, congratulations on your transition into adulthood, Frank. Do come back tomorrow."

Frank forced a smile, "Thanks, Father."

His mother did the same, although she sounded a lot more genuine when she said, "Thank you, Father," getting up from the pew and motioning for Frank and his father to do the same. "It means a lot to us to have you guiding Frank through this important period in his life."

"It's my pleasure," the priest answered graciously.

Frank saw his father shoot the priest a curt nod before he led the family towards the exit of the church. He also heard his parents discussing something about how the eighteen years had gone so fast, but just like he'd done to the vast majority of the Father's lecture earlier, Frank tuned it out like the words would make him sick if he paid too much attention to them. However, before they could leave the church, a sudden thought occurred to Frank.

"Wait," he tried interrupting his parents as politely as humanly possible, "I just remembered something. Can you wait for me in the car? I want to confess something before we leave." Frank shot his mother and his father a kind smile, "It'll just be a minute."

His mother seemed pleased by her son's disposition. "Of course. What a good God-loving man you're growing up to be, love," she praised.

"Don't take too long," his father warned. "I still need to work tonight."

"I'll be right back," Frank promised before turning around and running back into the church, taking one last glance behind himself to make sure his parents were indeed getting into the car before he went further down the corridor. He saw an elderly woman leaving the confessional booth, and he briefly greeted her before stepping into the booth himself, placing his backpack gently on the ground as he took a seat.

Frank greeted the priest who he knew was on the other side of the wooden wall, "Good evening, Father."

"Good evening," came a voice Frank couldn't see and yet recognized.

Not wanting to keep his parents waiting for long, Frank got straight to the point. "I accuse myself of the following sin, Father." Before he continued, Frank reached into his pocket and withdrew a piece of paper - none other than the drawing Gerard had given him earlier that week. He stared down at the drawing and smiled to himself, "I accuse myself of wanting to kiss someone of the same sex as me."

There was a short pause on the other end of the wall before the Father answered coldly, "Fifteen Hail Marys."

Frank couldn't help but giggle to himself. He stared down at the drawing one last time before pocketing it again, telling the Father, "Thank you," before grabbing his backpack and stepping out of the booth without another word. The church was almost entirely empty that evening except for a few elderly people sitting on the pews - who didn't notice Frank as they were completely captivated by the new mass that had just started.

Which was good, as Frank had a plan for that evening.

And it did not involve reciting any Hail Marys.

He looked around to confirm the coast was clear before he rushed down a narrow hallway, making sure to not make too much noise as he was definitely not meant to be in that part of the church. Frank carefully pushed open a door left ajar and was faced with an office, which he assumed belonged to the Father currently leading the mass service. The other priests were likely in their respective rooms, which were all nearby to where Frank currently stood, so he did his best to make absolutely no noise as he carefully stepped into the room.

Frank pushed aside a fancy chair before kneeling on the ground, opening a cupboard behind the Father's desk. He was faced with several bottles of sacramental wine, all brand new and unopened. In fact, Frank was reading the labels on the different bottles when he heard footsteps outside, making Frank's heart pound in his ears as he realized the true severity of what he was about to do.

It was now or never.

Frank quickly snatched one of the bottles and shoved it into his backpack, rushing to zip it shut before he closed the cupboard and carefully stepped back outside. Luckily, no one was in the hallway, and Frank miraculously got away with his impromptu heist. 

Later that night, it was long before Frank fell asleep. He took his music box and placed it on his bedside table so he could quietly listen to the album Gerard had given him, staring up at the ceiling dreamily as he did so. It was about halfway through the album that Frank decided exactly what he would do the following day.

And he never recited his fifteen Hail Marys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEEHEHEHEHEHEHHEEHEHHE. What's our darling Frankie going to do?
> 
> I know what you're thinking. Damn Venom, this chapter came out fast. And I say YEAH!!! Because I'm so fuckin excited about what's gonna happen in the next chapter that I can't wait to tell you guys!
> 
> Can I just say, I am so fucking gay. Just the gayest piece of shit ever. When I cough, fairy dust comes out of my lungs. So gay that I need to write gay stories in hopes of diffusing this gayness. 
> 
> Make sure to tune into chapter 10 - it's a BIIIIG one!
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	10. Dionysus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dionysus: Greek god of wine.

Absolutely nothing could have prepared Gerard for what would happen on Halloween night. 

When the doorbell rang that evening, Gerard didn't know what exactly he was expecting to see, but it sure as hell wasn't what he actually saw on the other side of the front door. Once he swung it open, however, he was faced with a strangely smiley Frank - who, for a reason completely unknown to Gerard, had a wine bottle in hand and the face of a man up to no good.

"Hey Gee," Frank said in between giggles. There was a short silence before he bit his lip and mumbled cheekily, "I did a bad thing."

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, trying to get a grip on the situation, "Frank… what?" He looked at the wine in Frank's hand only to find three quarters of it was missing. "Frankie… are you _drunk?!"_

The shorter boy looked up and grinned, "Maybe."

"What did you.." Gerard shook his head, "where did you even get this wine? Did you use a fake ID or something?"

Frank rolled his eyes humorously, "No, silly. I stole it."

"YOU STOLE-" before Gerard could finish his sentence, Frank reached forward and pressed his hand against the taller boy's mouth, shutting him up. Gerard simply stared at Frank with wide eyes, which, to his credit, was a completely understandable reaction given his previous impressions of Frank. It wasn't like the Frank he knew was _rebellious,_ especially not to the point of stealing alcohol like he just did. 

Frank continued pressing his palm gently to Gerard's mouth as he explained quietly, "Listen, it's just sacramental wine from church, okay? They won't miss it. I saw like, a dozen of these bottles when I took them from the priest's office, alright? Besides, think of it as karma against the churches for not paying taxes." He carefully lowered his hand once he saw the taller boy's expression relax slightly. "Can you just… come with me?"

"Where exactly-" Gerard tried to investigate the current situation further, but was interrupted by Frank once again. The shorter boy simply wrapped a fist on the front of Gerard's shirt and pulled him down slightly as he stepped closer. The sudden proximity was enough to effectively shut him up, and he decided to only watch Frank's face intently as he waited for him to say something else.

Indeed, Frank looked up at him and pulled a sad expression, "You'll come with me, won't you?"

"Uh… Frank, you're drunk, I don't know if this is a good id-"

Frank pulled Gerard closer, so much that the taller boy briefly wondered if he was going to kiss him once he felt their noses touch, but he only continued looking up at him as he muttered sluggishly, "You promised. You wouldn't leave me, right? Not on my birthday." His breath smelled like wine and chocolate. 

It was at that point that Gerard figured it'd definitely be irresponsible to just leave Frank alone in his current drunken state, so going wherever Frank wanted him to go started sounding like a smart idea to Gerard. "Alright," the taller boy agreed hesitantly. Now, there were _many_ things going through Gerard's mind then, most of them being something along the lines of _what the actual fuck is happening._ However, the one coherent thought Gerard did muster as he shut his front door and followed Frank down the street was that he had a deep, pitting feeling that something different awaited him that night.

Although Gerard wasn't exactly skilled at clairvoyant magic, that night, he felt like there was absolutely no way his intuition was wrong. This somewhat might have been part of the reason why Gerard did indeed follow Frank out - his curiosity had been lit aflame and there was no way he would just let it starve. To be perfectly clear, Gerard's intuition was in no way negative - he did not feel like something _bad_ would happen that night - but rather it just told him that a _big thing_ was coming, whatever it was. 

Luckily, it was just under ten o'clock in the evening, and Gerard had never seen any sort of police strolling his rather calm neighbourhood past eight, so Frank waltzing around with a wine bottle should not draw too much attention. The taller boy also hoped that people would perhaps interpret the wine bottle as being part of some strange Halloween costume. The street was surprisingly devoid of children and teenagers considering it was Halloween night, which Gerard figured was likely due to the time and slightly chilly weather. Overall, it was silent that night. Not just without sound - serene.

"We didn't get any sort of costume," Gerard remarked quietly. "It's Halloween and we're not even dressed up."

"I've never gotten dressed on Halloween," Frank commented with a casual shrug. 

Gerard gasped in utter disbelief at the other boy, "What?! You've _never_ gotten dressed on Halloween?" He asked, "How does that even happen? Like, you've never worn a scary costume? Halloween is your _birthday!"_

"My mom says it's paganism," Frank said with a soft chuckle - like he thought the notion was ridiculous. He weakly kicked the sidewalk, "But it's okay. I don't really miss it. There's always next year in case I wanna try."

"If you say so..." Gerard muttered. "Frankie..." he suddenly changed the subject, "I've noticed something about you, you know."

That seemed to intrigue the other boy. "Oh yeah?" he answered with a smirk Gerard couldn't shake off. "Let's cross the street here," he pointed towards the other side of the street, where a small park sat empty past the crosswalk.

As Gerard waited for the pedestrian light to turn green, he explained, "I noticed that you're overly cautious except for when you're completely reckless."

Frank looked up at him and for whatever reason, held onto Gerard's arm as they crossed the street. He did not look at either side of the street before he crossed. "What do you mean?" he slurred. 

"I mean… you're usually very hesitant and controlled, but then sometimes you get these weird spurts of recklessness. Like you don't care what's gonna happen to you," Gerard elaborated. 

"Hm..." Frank hummed, seeming to not have observed the same about himself. "Let's sit by that tree over there!" he then pointed out clumsily, nodding towards a tree a few yards away in a rather secluded spot. 

Gerard laughed at how drunk Frank sounded, "Alright, Frankie. The tree it is." In all honesty, he was just glad Frank didn't take him somewhere that was far from home. They were a five minute walk away in case they needed to crash for the night, which Gerard felt he would be thankful for later.

Once they were both seated under the tree - Gerard having chosen to lean against it while Frank sat cross-legged across him - Frank fidgeted with his fingers for a moment before uttering, "You know..." he smiled to himself, "I'm not really reckless around anyone else. I think that only happens when you're around."

"Why?" Gerard truly did not understand why his presence would warrant such a change in Frank's behavior. "Is it something I did?"

"No!" Frank raised a hand defensively. "Not at all, actually. I think it's because..." he looked at Gerard sheepishly then, "I don't believe anything bad will happen to me when you're around. I feel like you wouldn't let that happen."

Gerard felt his ears go hot at the heartfelt confession. "Oh." It seemed like Frank was the truthful type of drunk.

"Actually," the shorter boy then lowered his voice, speaking like the words were being forced out of him somehow, "sometimes I feel like you're too nice to me. I don't know what I did to deserve you. I feel like there must be some sort of catch." He continued picking at some blades of grass instead of looking back at the other boy, avoiding his gaze with what seemed like newly found embarrassment.

"Frankie, that's bullshit." Gerard assured, "A person being nice to you and supporting you is just the sign of a healthy relationship. There's not supposed to be a catch.”

Frank smiled, "Thanks." He then picked up his wine bottle and frowned slightly, "Speaking of being a good friend, I was gonna leave half of the bottle for you but I got a little carried away." Nevertheless, he offered the quarter-full bottle to Gerard, "You can still have the rest if you want." 

That did not sound like too bad of an idea. Frank wasn't the only one allowed to have a little bit of fun, and there was hardly anything left of the wine anyways. Gerard had tried wine during a few parties and coven gatherings - what Frank had in the bottle was enough to make Gerard perhaps a little spacey at most. "Alright. I guess you can't get more drunk if I take the wine away from you."

Frank laughed as he handed the other boy the bottle, "How responsible of you." He then reached into his pockets and threw out miscellaneous candies onto the grass, "I also took some stuff from random houses that just left their candy bowls outside."

"Couldn't resist the offer of free sugar?" Gerard joked before he took a swig of wine. He never thought this would happen - that he'd be drinking alcohol with Frank. Nevermind alcohol _stolen_ by Frank. Oh well. Gerard figured life works in mysterious ways. This wine was a tad too sweet for Gerard's liking though, so he downed it in one go and put the bottle firmly on the grass, ditching it completely. 

The shorter boy cumbersomely unwrapped a bite-sized chocolate and giggled. "You know me too well. Do you like any of these?" he wondered, nodding at the assorted candies and tiny chocolate bars.

"Hm..." Gerard looked through the small pile and picked out a peanut butter cup, "I like Reese's."

"I'll try to remember that."

"I have a certain feeling that you won't, given how much you drank."

Frank slammed his fist on the ground, "Hey!" he exclaimed at a socially inappropriate volume. "I am totally gonna remember!" The smaller boy lowered his voice once Gerard signaled for him to quiet down. "Watch, I'm committing it to memory," he placed both his hands on his temples and shot Gerard a focused look, "you like Reese's." 

There was something so weirdly funny about the scene Gerard was currently witnessing. He didn't know if it was just the odd way Frank was acting or if it was the wine currently running through his veins making him particularly giddy. Regardless, Gerard cracked up, "Frankie, you're being so weird."

The boy in question raised an eyebrow and got up onto his knees, leaning closer to Gerard to playfully smack his shoulder. "We're both being weird, stupid." However, he strangely did not get off his knees once he was done, but rather got a different, slightly wild look on his face as he mumbled, "Hey Gerard?"

"Yeah?" 

"Do you think it's better to know or to spend your whole life wondering?" Frank asked quietly - almost as if he were making a confession - never once breaking the intense eye contact he held with Gerard. The taller boy could've sworn he'd never been stared at so profoundly in his life - like Frank was searching for some sort of answer within his eyes. 

Gerard cleared his throat before muttering, "I suppose it's better to know." He stared back up at the other, his legs crossed and his arms behind himself as he leaned backwards. 

"Then I'm sorry, Gee," Frank apologized with oddly sober firmness.

"Sorry for what?"

Frank looked back at Gerard one last time and answered his question, "I'm sorry, but I have to know."

And he showed Gerard what he meant before he could even ask. 

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows at Frank for a moment, but it truly was only for a moment, because suddenly, there was a hand on the back of his neck and a pair of shy lips sweetly against his own. The kiss was short, haste - in fact, Gerard didn't even have time to close his eyes or properly enjoy it before it was over - and yet, that did not matter.

Because that boundary had just been crossed. And it could never be uncrossed. 

Frank was the one to end the kiss first, but even then, he did not withdraw. Instead, he kept his hand right where it sat, clutching the back of Gerard's neck as if he worried the taller boy would bolt. When he opened his eyes to meet Gerard's, they were wide - but he did not look afraid. All Gerard could see when he looked at Frank's eyes was surprise; surprise mixed with something else that shot electricity throughout Gerard's entire body.

It was sin.

This was the first time Gerard ever thought Frank looked sinful.

 _"Fuck,"_ Frank chuckled breathlessly, a slight smile on his face.

"Did you just say fu-" 

Before Gerard could finish his question, Frank leaned in to kiss him again, and ditching his words for this kiss was just about the easiest choice Gerard ever made. This kiss was nothing like the last one. The first had been sweet, innocent. This kiss was many things, but sweet and innocent was certainly not one of them. Hardly a moment passed before Gerard felt an extra weight on his legs and an unusual warmth against his chest, and it took him a rather embarrassing amount of time to process the fact that _holy shit, Frank was on his lap right now, making out with him!_

Gerard could've sworn his skin was on _fire._ The night was chilly and yet he felt feverish - everywhere his body touched Frank’s felt like it was about to combust. Everything was _hot._ Frank's mouth tasted exactly like Gerard imagined it, too. Sweet. Like chocolate and awfully sugary wine, except now, Gerard did not find the taste the slightest bit nauseating. 

In fact, it was much more intoxicating than the wine he just had. 

The taller boy tangled his fists into the grass behind him, as if trying to plant himself to the ground; it was the only way to contain the desire to reach out and touch Frank. His hands on Gerard's body begged for reciprocity and yet he resisted. They rested firmly on both sides of his face - almost as if Frank were trying to remind himself that the other boy was indeed there, right where he was. And still Gerard did his best to keep his hands to himself. He already suspected Frank was only kissing him because of how shitfaced he was; there was no way Gerard would take it further and ultimately make Frank regret what he did. The witch had an inkling that would make him feel oddly guilty. 

It was unfortunate, then - or most likely, fortunate - that Frank disagreed, because he reached out without breaking the kiss and grabbed both of Gerard's wrists, placing one of them on the back of his head and the other on his waist, then squeezing his hands reassuringly almost as if saying _it's okay, you can touch me._ Gerard could've sworn Frank was glowing with how warm he felt under his fingertips. Actually, Gerard could've sworn _he_ was glowing, because his entire body was tingly and his heart felt like it was about to explode out of his chest. 

Once Frank became convinced Gerard lost his shyness, he pressed himself harder against the taller boy, wrapping both his arms around his neck like he wanted to pull him even closer somehow. Gerard felt his back hit the tree behind him but he didn’t care, because in that moment, Gerard could _feel_ how much Frank wanted him. The desperation in the way he clung to him. The way he would occasionally hum pleasantly into the kiss. It was truly one of the best moments of Gerard's life. 

And then it was like he woke from a dream. 

Because the kiss was right. Fuck, it was so right. 

But the timing couldn't be more wrong.

"Wait, Frank, stop," Gerard used his grip on Frank's face to pull them apart. "You're too drunk. This isn't right."

Frank blinked at him with his dark eyes, completely blown out into pitch black from the kiss. "Y-you don't like me?" he asked in a small voice, stuttering slightly. He kept his arms around Gerard's neck and did not move from where he sat - chest to chest against him. 

"Of course I do, but you're far too drunk. The kiss… it isn't right. Not like this."

Frank pouted, "So what? I wanted it. And you kissed me back." He slid a hand down to Gerard's chest, pressing against him gently, "I felt your heartbeat."

"It still isn't right."

The shorter boy frowned, "Yes it is."

Gerard quickly thought of a sort of compromise, "Let's say this, if you remember this when you're sober, you're more than invited to kiss me again." When the shorter boy leaned in once more, Gerard pushed him away again. _"Only_ when you're sober. I'll feel bad if I continue kissing you right now," he admitted.

"Why?" Frank asked sadly.

"Because I'll feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

Frank groaned, "But you're _not!"_ He tangled his hands up into Gerard's hair and stroked his scalp softly. "I wanna kiss you when I'm sober too, you know," Frank whispered, his words so low and slurred that Gerard wouldn't have understood him at all had he not been listening closely. "Plus, it's not like you're all that sober either." 

"No, but I'm a lot more clear headed than you are right now." Not only did Gerard have much less alcohol than Frank, but he was bigger and taller than the other boy too - of _course_ Frank was a lot more inebriated. Besides, Gerard felt like most of the alcohol had worn off by now, while Frank was still very much drunk. "And I think it's time I take you home. You look like you're gonna crash soon." It was true. Frank looked much less sharp than he did earlier and he looked like he was fighting to keep his eyes open. 

Luckily, the smaller boy didn't protest. "Okay." He leaned his head against Gerard's chest and wrapped his arms tighter around his neck as if he were about to fall asleep right there. Gerard only laughed slightly to himself as he reached to shove the loose candy wrappings on the floor into his pocket - the wine bottle would have to stay since he couldn't pick it up from where he sat, but at least taking the wrappers with him was better than littering, he supposed. Frank made a sound that started out as a gasp but later turned into a giggle when the other boy simply picked him up, carrying him bridal-style out of the park and back down the street. 

“Wow…” the smaller boy said dreamily. “You’re so strong…” 

This notion was so violently ridiculous that Gerard almost dropped Frank right onto the cracked L.A. sidewalk. “I'm not, though,” he laughed again. “You're just very tiny. I've carried books heavier than you.” 

“Shhh, just let me believe!” Frank whined, somehow still giggling. “What did I call you when you got rid of that spider for me? My knight in faded band merch?”

“Again, you give me too much credit.”

Frank looked up at Gerard seriously and leaned his head on the taller boy’s shoulder, his arms still wrapped around his neck. Gerard felt the corners of his shirt rumple when Frank grinned, “I don't, though. You're always so good to me. You take care of me even when you don't have to.” 

“That’s just the bare minimum, Frankie,” Gerard replied softly. “Good friends are always supposed to look out for each other. Of course I don’t wanna see bad things happening to you.” Gerard frowned down at the other boy, “It sounds like you haven't had many good friends up to now.” 

Frank shook his head, still leaning on the other's shoulder, “But it's okay. I have you now.”

“You have Mikey too, you know,” Gerard reassured. “He's not… the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes, but he has a great heart. He really likes you too. Mikey’s so much better with people than me. He wears his emotions on his sleeve in a way I kinda admire.”

Frank chuckled, “Aw, look at you, being all cute to your brother.”

“Definitely don't tell Mikey I said nice things about him,” Gerard eyed the boy in his arms seriously. Truly, his arms were starting to ache quite a bit from carrying Frank, but luckily the two of them were almost at the Way residence anyways, so Gerard just did his best to ignore it and asked Frank something else. “What do you think of Mikey, by the way?”

“Hm…” Frank closed his eyes briefly as he thought before he threw out, “Very outgoing. The straightest straight guy I've ever met. Surprisingly respectful to women, though.”

That description of Mikey was so painfully accurate that it made Gerard crack up. Although he was aware that some people on the street were eyeing the two of them weird, Gerard found himself not caring even the slightest bit about what they thought. “Mikey should get that tattooed on his back like the blurb of a book.”

Frank hummed noncommittally and Gerard felt him relax into his arms. He muttered gingerly to the smaller boy, “Frankie? You falling asleep over there?” When he got no response, Gerard just assumed that Frank had in fact fallen fast asleep. He shortly smiled to himself when he felt the boy's slow breathing on his neck, tickling him slightly, but nowhere near enough for Gerard to wake him up over it. It was around then that Gerard arrived home, definitely feeling relieved about finally putting Frank down.

It was to Gerard’s surprise that he didn’t find Mikey watching TV in the living room. He just assumed his brother was either at Pete’s or just up in his room - it was almost certainly not the right time to concern himself with his brother’s whereabouts, considering the tiny human currently asleep in his arms. Frank stirred softly on the stairs down to Gerard’s bedroom, but rather than jolting awake, he only opened his eyes slightly to meet Gerard’s when he put him down on his bed. 

"Lay down with me,” Frank pleaded, barely above a whisper.

The other boy felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest when he realized he couldn't grant Frank’s wish. "I can't."

"Why not?"

Gerard frowned, "Because when you wake up, you won't remember why I'm there." 

Surprisingly, Frank somewhat accepted this answer, instead turning to ask, “Then stay with me until I fall asleep.” 

Something about the sad edge in his voice made Gerard agree. He laid down on his bed - over the covers - and tangled his hand in the other boy's hair, stroking gently as he lulled him to sleep. Considering how tired Frank had been before, it wasn't long before he shut his eyes and his breathing leveled out again. Gerard watched him for a few minutes until he began feeling weighed down himself - not by sleep, but rather, by guilt. 

Because Gerard knew what he was about to do, and it made him feel like absolute shit.

He softly called Frank's name to check if he was indeed asleep, and when the smaller boy didn't budge, Gerard stilled his hand where it sat atop Frank's head. The taller boy felt a small tear run down his face, but before he could start weeping for real, Gerard forced himself to start casting, shakily whispering the words under his breath.

_After this memory is seen and said,  
erase it from this heart and this head.  
Purge this mind of what it saw tonight,  
so its future remains calm and alright._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAA FINALLY! I WAS SO EXCITED TO PUT OUT THIS CHAPTER AND IT'S FINALLY HERE!
> 
> WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK OF THIS ONE??? AAAAAA!!
> 
> Do leave a comment telling me what you think! I always love hearing what you have to say about the characters and F and G's relationship. It helps me become a better writer :)
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	11. Frigg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am FLOORED at the love this story is getting! More than 150 hits on the past chapter and over 1k overall? THANK YOU!!!! I love every single one of you lovelies. Come hug me you little cuties. Anyways, back to the story lol!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frigg: Norse goddess of wisdom and foretelling.

Gerard was woken up the following morning by knocking on the front door. After putting Frank to bed, he went back upstairs to grab him a glass of water for the inevitable hangover he'd wake up with before crashing on the couch still in his evening clothes. At an ungodly hour in the morning - which to Gerard, was about eight thirty - someone decided to start knocking on the door, leading Gerard to momentarily question why he was always the one who had to get the door in this house. Once he saw who was outside, however, Gerard became more confused than anything else.

"Mikey?" he squinted at his brother in bemusement. "Where the hell were you all night?"

There was a moment of silence before Mikey forcibly shuffled past his brother, throwing his backpack on the floor and taking a seat on the couch. Mikey stared blankly ahead for a few seconds before he started sobbing uncontrollably, proceeding to hide his face in his hands as he bawled his eyes out. "You were right," he cried. "Alicia was cheating on me."

"Oh, Mikes..." Gerard said affectionately, "I'm so sorry."

"And with that stupid Trent guy!" Mikey choked. "I don't understand what I did to deserve this."

Gerard sat down by his brother and offered sympathetically, "You _don't_ deserve it. This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Alicia being an idiot." When Mikey stayed silent, the elder added, "And we can always hex them if that would make you feel better! Mom probably has a herpes curse lying around somewhere." That made Mikey chuckle slightly. "I could also try to bless them with peaceful sleep and maybe give them horrible insomnia for a month."

Mikey shot his brother a small smile, "I'll think about it."

"Besides, Trent is a massive fucking douchebag anyways," Gerard continued. "He definitely believes in shit like conversion therapy. And I bet you, like, five dollars that he says the n-word all the time."

The younger agreed, "He's a piece of shit, isn't he?"

Gerard nodded, "Definitely." He then suggested, "Do you wanna watch a movie or something? I'll put up with all the Fast and Furious movies right now if you wanna watch them… even though some would argue it's a hate crime to make a gay person watch even one of those."

Mikey laughed breathlessly and wiped his eyes; he'd stopped sobbing by now but his face was still red and tear-stained. "Thanks, but… I think I need to be alone today. You know what mom always says," he raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, she would definitely tell me off for trying to distract you from processing your emotions or whatever," Gerard answered with a gentle roll of his eyes. 

Mikey nodded knowingly. "Please tell me something good happened in your life at least."

Gerard scratched his head, "Uh… well..." When the younger perked up, he blushed, "So, uh… Frank kissed me last night. I still don't know what's gonna happen but… yeah. That's something that happened. We sorta, uh… made out."

The younger sibling laughed to himself and after a short pause, playfully nudged the other, "I fucking _told_ you straight men don't know words."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

As you, dear reader, very clearly know from the shared experience of being human, sometimes the build-up to an event is infinitely more nerve-wracking than the event itself. Because oftentimes, the build-up is just so fucking _long,_ and the anticipation of knowing something is about to happen makes it downright impossible to lose yourself in any specific task in the meantime. Like when a teacher is handing out results for an exam you know you bombed or when you're about to start an emotionally strenuous conversation.

That was exactly how Gerard felt while he waited for Frank to wake up that Saturday morning.

See, after Mikey went up into his room for some extremely deserved alone time, Gerard was left alone again, except this time, _awake._ Even though Gerard's sleep hadn't exactly been restful until being woken up by his brother, he was still _asleep,_ which usually means a blissful albeit temporary escape from the problems of the _real world._ And unfortunately, falling asleep again definitely wasn't an option now that Gerard was somewhat rested and completely sober. 

Gerard got up off the couch and started cleaning mainly so he had _something_ to do. His music box was downstairs in his room along with all of his albums, and grabbing them just wasn't worth the risk of potentially waking Frank up. So, Gerard settled for the painfully boring task of tidying up the house in silence, aimlessly straightening out picture frames and rearranging the cushions on the couch far too many times.

It felt like a lifetime and a half went by before Gerard finally heard the sound of footsteps, which he could now definitely recognize as Frank's after hearing the boy climb up and down into the basement enough times. He saw Frank step out of the stairs and head straight into the kitchen, seeming to not have spotted Gerard in the living room. Gerard stood still in his spot for a few seconds, wondering how to approach - what to even _say_ \- but luckily, it seemed like some deity must've taken the wheel in that moment, because he mindlessly walked into the kitchen and mumbled, "Erm… morning."

Frank turned to face him slowly, his movements lazy and groggy. "Oh. Good morning."

After noticing the dark circles under Frank's eyes and the unusual raspiness to his voice, Gerard thought to ask, "Uh… how are you feeling?"

"Hungover," the smaller boy stated simply. He raised an empty glass towards the other, "Could you please get me some more water? I drank all of what you left me."

God. Even when Frank felt like complete shit he was still polite as ever.

"Oh!" Great. That was something for Gerard to _do._ Something that involved action rather than conversation. "Sure. I'll fix you something to eat too," he was quick to offer. "Getting some calories and liquids into your body's very important right now." Gerard filled the glass with water from the fridge and handed it to the other boy.

Frank smiled gratefully and took a seat at the breakfast table. "Thanks. I'd totally give you a hug if I didn't smell so gross," he joked and took a large gulp of water. "I thought of using your shower but I didn't know if you would've thought it rude of me to just use it without asking."

Gerard shot the other a skeptical look, "You could've just used it, you know. I don't mind. Like… at all." He smiled kindly, "I wouldn't get mad at you for wanting to take a shower, Frankie." Gerard then focused on making breakfast, grabbing a few eggs from the fridge along with some butter. "Do you like scrambled eggs?" he wondered offhandedly.

"I think I would eat _cement_ if you put it on toast," Frank laughed tiredly. "I'm starving."

"Alright," Gerard chuckled and got to making the eggs. The two boys lingered in the kitchen in a strange silence. However, like usual, Gerard felt like this silence wasn't awkward. Rather, he felt a bit creeped out at how… _casual_ this was. Almost like the kiss hadn't happened at all.

 _Shit,_ did that mean Frank truly didn't remember? Did the spell work? From what he knew about the other boy, Gerard felt like Frank must've at least shown some sort of shyness - besides his usual demureness - if he remembered, but Gerard couldn't sense anything that didn't feel like it belonged to their regular dynamic. The witch had a fleeting thought about that being weird, but before he could inwardly elaborate on it further, the sound of a doorbell echoed through the kitchen.

Frank briefly raised his eyebrows at the other as if asking _should I get that?_ but Gerard was the first to get on the move, mumbling, "I'll get it," as he fumbled to turn off the stove. _"Fuck,"_ he cussed after he dropped his spatula in his rush. Did that _have_ to happen that morning? The doorbell rang once more and when Gerard took longer than a second to get it, it rang again. "For fuck's sake, I'm _coming,_ asshole!" Gerard cursed at whoever was outside right as he swung the door open.

The girl outside smirked. "Well, that's not a nice way to speak to a lady," she sassed in her cute southern drawl. 

For a few seconds, all Gerard did was look her up and down, making sure that the short girl wearing stylish clothes and bright makeup was truly who he thought she was. When Gerard realized this girl couldn't be anyone else, however, he launched himself at her and swung her around in a tight hug. _"Hayley!"_

She laughed and hugged back, "I missed your sorry ass, y'know that?"

When Gerard finally put her down, he exclaimed, "What the hell, I thought you were meant to be up in Berkeley!" 

Hayley grinned and offered him a casual shrug, "I dropped out. Heaven knows it, you were right. Engineering isn't my passion." She removed her cool-looking sunglasses and hung them on the collar of her shirt. "I'm studying cosmetology now. And ain't no place on earth better to go to beauty school than Los Angeles."

"No way, you're living in SoCal again?!"

"You know it, darlin'." She looked somewhere behind Gerard and nodded, "You gon' introduce me to the handsome little fella back there?"

Gerard looked behind himself to see that Frank had turned around in his seat and was flashing the two friends a puzzled look, as if wondering who the hell that southern girl standing outside was. He stumbled slightly before properly introducing them, letting Hayley in and shutting the front door behind her. "Uh, Frankie, this is my friend Hayley. We graduated from Saint Agnes together. And Hayley, uh… this is Frank. He goes to Saint Agnes with Mikey." 

Frank sat up from his place at the breakfast table and offered the girl a shy handshake. "Hi, miss Hayley… erm… I'm Frank. Nice to meet you," he introduced himself politely, avoiding her gaze. 

However, Hayley rejected his handshake, instead reaching forward to pinch the short boy's cheek affectionately. "And you're cute like a little peach too! I see why Gee took a likin' to ya!"

 _Fucking hell._ In the time Hayley had been up in Berkeley, Gerard had sort of forgotten about her… intrinsic Hayley-ness. The woman had as little of a filter as was humanly possible. In that moment Gerard prayed that Hayley wouldn't spill just about every bean in the can to Frank, because he knew that was just the kind of person she was.

"Uh..." the boy went red, "thanks?" He glanced back and forth between Hayley and Gerard for a moment before asking her, "Where are you from?"

Hayley let go of Frank's face and sighed, "Oh, I'm from Tennessee. Went to high school here with Gee." She then commented nonchalantly, "But don't worry about me stealin' your man from ya or anythin'. No need to get your knickers in a knot. I'd steal you, though. If I liked men you'd be just my type. You look sweeter than a cold glass of sweet tea!"

 _Oh my God,_ Gerard worried internally. He was starting to seriously regret introducing the two of them. Hayley was the exact opposite of Frank in every way - bold, colorful, and most of all, _explicit._

Frank shot her a bemused look. _"If_ you liked men?" he asked quietly.

"Oh, yeah. Unfortunately for my folks, and fortunately for women everywhere, I'm a lesbian," Hayley confessed in a laid-back tone. "My folks down in Tennessee don't like it, but their judgements are god awful anyways! They're still flyin' the Confederate flag back home!"

It was then that Gerard saw something unique pass through Frank's face. The way his eyebrows raised slightly and his lips shortly parted. It wasn't the look he saw on homophobes or on the shitty straight boys back in high school who treated Hayley's sexuality like a strange fetish - it was awe. Gerard could see crystal clear then that Frank was amazed by Hayley. Not enamored or scared - all he could see on his face was pure unadulterated admiration. 

"I think… uh… I think I should get going," Frank stuttered. He picked up his phone from where it sat atop the breakfast table and hastily shoved it into his pocket, already shuffling past the two friends before they could protest. Frank briefly looked back, "Thank you for the food!" 

Gerard frowned. "But you didn't even," the front door slammed shut before he completed, "eat… anything."

A short silence settled in before Hayley sighed longingly, "Bless his heart."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

"So… Frank _kissed_ you?" Ray asked slowly, as if he thought sounding out the words would make them sound more real. 

Gerard confirmed from where he laid, his head on Hayley's lap, "Yeah." 

"So are we finally going to admit that Frank might not be all that straight?" Ray said in a clever tone. "I mean, not to throw shade at you or anything, but climbing onto a dude's lap and making out with him is not exactly… normal straight guy behavior."

"He could be a straight guy going through an identity crisis," Gerard shrugged off humbly. "I mean, you know what they say about people who have strict Catholic upbringings."

Hayley furrowed her eyebrows down at him. "That they're kinky?" she suggested.

 _Oh God._ That was _so_ incredibly far off from what Gerard had in mind. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed, looking up at her. "No! I meant, like… they learn that certain things are not okay, which makes those things infinitely more tempting, right? Isn't it that thing about the forbidden fruit always tasting sweeter?" He explained, "They learn that some things, like having premarital sex or being gay, are bad. So those things just become more tempting."

"It's a logical point," Ray admitted. "Which makes me kinda sad to tell you that you're super fucking wrong." Damn. Ray was not usually _that_ cold when he disagreed with someone. "I mean, sure, maybe it's true to some extent, but for a temptation to exist, the initial desire has to be there. Would Frank be tempted to kiss a guy if he didn't even want to do that in the first place?"

Hayley nodded slowly, "I agree, hun. And… listen..." she suddenly took on a serious tone, which was quite rare for her, "I know y'all don't wanna think about this, but none of ya know what it's like to grow up gay in a family like that." Her face went somber, "With all due respect, Ray, you're straight, and Gee, your mom is a feminist witch from California. Frank's feelings for you might even be clear, but how he feels about himself is still changin' because of what it's like at home."

When no one answered, Hayley elaborated, "You said he comes across as very hot and cold, right? Gee, bless your pea-pickin' little heart, but you need to be patient with the boy. His heart knows what it wants but his mind's busier than a moth in a mitten, darlin'. Give it some time."

"I'm supposed to just wait?" Gerard asked. "But what if he never comes around?"

"He will," Hayley smiled fondly. "Soon, too."

"How do you know that?"

She laughed, "He already kissed you, silly thing. If he had the courage to not only do that, but to admit to himself that he wanted it, that's more than halfway there."

That did in fact make sense. Gerard just had one itty bitty problem, however, "Um… but what if he doesn't remember that he kissed me?"

Ray looked worried, "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Gerard clarified, "not only was he absolutely shitfaced when he kissed me, but… uh… I might have cast a spell on him to erase the memory for sure."

Ray got up from where he sat at Gerard's desk and shot him a stern look, "What do you _mean_ you cast a fucking memory loss spell?!" Shit. Ray wasn't usually scary in the slightest, but now, his seriousness and absurd height were making him look rather intimidating. "What happened this time?!"

"Um… nothing."

All the anger vanished from Ray's face just as quickly as it'd come, being replaced by neutral confusion. "What do you mean nothing happened?"

Gerard sat up on his bed to look directly at the other boy and confirmed, "I mean I cast the spell and that's it. Nothing bad happened."

"Something bad _must've_ happened," Ray affirmed.

"Except it didn't," Gerard retorted. 

"So... he wasn't... puking glitter?" Ray asked, looking fully perplexed.

"Nope."

"And he had the usual amount of toes? And eyebrows?" he investigated further.

"Yes."

"And he _definitely_ remembered who and where he was?"

Gerard rolled his eyes and answered emphatically, _"Yes!"_

There was a long, long pause before Ray muttered, "Well that's weird." He started pacing back and forth, his hand on his chin as if he were lost in thought. "Something bad _should've_ happened by now if you cast the spell last night. But nothing bad did happen. _Why?!"_ he mumbled under his breath. 

"Dude, stop worrying," Gerard interrupted his thoughtful rant. "Nothing bad happened. You don't need to worry."

"That's exactly why I'm worrying, Gerard!" Ray stopped pacing and looked at his friends seriously. "Because something bad definitely _must_ have happened! Every single spell you've cast in the past year led to something bad, dude! Literally _every single one."_ He gesticulated wildly with his hands, "Don't you see? Something's off about your witchcraft! Because you didn't just become _good_ all of a sudden. Just like you shouldn't have just become _bad_ all of a sudden. When exactly did your witchcraft start going wrong?"

Gerard took a moment to think about it, "Uh… around the time we started senior year?"

Ray hummed, "So… one year ago. Something must've changed a year ago and then changed again last night... or in the past leading up to last night. Is there anything that comes to mind? Some sort of bad sign or… an omen or anything of the sort? Something that you saw both a year ago and recently?"

"No," Gerard answered honestly. He had absolutely no idea as to what Ray could be talking about. "What does this all mean, dude?"

Ray now looked intrigued. "It means there's something going on with your witchcraft... and it isn't you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am gay and I agree with Gerard. Making a gay watch a Fast and Furious movie should be considered a hate crime.
> 
> I saw a comment on the previous chapter and I just wanted to clarify: there's still a LOT coming in this story. I'd say we're maybe halfway through. Trust me when I say there's entire subplots just starting now! The real story is still beginning! :))))
> 
> And... what did you think? Do you like Hayley? What could be going on with Gerard's witchcraft? Is he truly just bad and maybe didn't cast this one spell properly? Or is it something... more? ;)
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	12. Oshun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oshun: Yoruba orisha of femininity, intimacy, beauty, love, and the Osun river.

Mikey sat at the diner picking at his pancakes as if he planned on eating them. This used to be Alicia's favorite spot for an afternoon snack, and after ditching school that Monday at lunch period to sit at the diner, Mikey found himself strangely stuck to the place. He ordered pancakes mainly so he wouldn't look like an absolute weirdo sitting at the diner by himself, even though the sunken feeling in his chest made him feel like taking even a single bite would make him physically ill. In fact, Mikey was about to consider calling Gerard or maybe an Uber for a ride back home when another voice spoke from the other side of the booth he'd been previously alone in.

"What's got you so blue?" 

Without even thinking, Mikey blurted out, "My girlfriend cheated on me!" He dropped his cutlery and buried his face in his hands, breaking into tears.

The voice from the other side of the booth answered softly, "Oh dear, that's awful. I hope you broke up with her."

"I did," Mikey sniffled. He then looked up, "Wait, I don't even know you."

The person sitting across him was a girl, who looked to be about his age. She had blonde hair and bright colored eyes, her outfit rather laid-back; all Mikey could see of her ensemble from where he sat was a plain grey hoodie. The mysterious girl had absolutely nothing in common with Alicia. While Alicia was usually tense and cold, the only thing Mikey saw in this girl's face was warmth. 

She smiled, "I'm Kristin. I'm seventeen. I just moved here from Long Beach so… I don't know you either." The girl, who Mikey now knew as Kristin, shrugged, "I just thought you looked sad and it was making me sad, so I came over here to see what was up."

"Oh, well I'm Mikey," he introduced himself. "Michael, actually, but… y'know..." Mikey trailed off.

"I like the sound of Mikey. It suits you." Kristin tilted her head slightly, "You look too sweet for a Mike." When the boy responded by sheepishly looking back down towards his food, she added, "I'm really sorry about your girlfriend, by the way. It really sucks to have someone break your trust like that. My ex boyfriend cheated on me too and it just felt horrible."

Mikey sobbed weakly, "I know… I'm sorry that happened to you too." By now, he was no longer in tears, but the occasional hiccup still came up when he tried talking about the subject. This break-up thing really sucked.

"It's alright, you don't need to be sorry," Kristin offered kindly. "It was a while ago now. Also, I'm better off without him anyways. You're in a much better place being single than being in a relationship with someone who's cheating, right? The worst is already over," she stated with confidence.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Mikey nodded slowly, weighing that answer briefly in his head before deciding that this girl, Kristin, was probably right. Once it felt like that part of the conversation was over, Mikey thought to ask, "What high school do you go to?"

"Oh, I actually just started my freshman year of college," she corrected him. "I'm a math major at USC."

"Woah… you must be really smart," the boy gaped at her in wonder. He quickly added with a short nod, "Or really rich."

That made Kristin laugh. "Unfortunately I'm not rich. I'm on a scholarship, actually. Imagine how cool that would be, though? I’d pay for everyone’s bills in here and walk out feeling like a Catholic saint.” She then asked curiously, "What would you do if you were really rich? Like… corporate billionaire rich?"

What an interesting question. Mikey hadn't been asked a question quite that interesting in a long time. He took a few seconds to think about it before throwing out, "Probably pay Jim Morrison ten million bucks to show up at my house and tell my brother to stop being an idiot." Mikey couldn't contain his laughter then and actually found himself cracking up, especially when Kristin joined in, cackling right along with him.

"Why's your brother being an idiot?" she asked with a smile. 

Mikey rolled his eyes, "He doesn't know that his boyfriend is actually his boyfriend. He still thinks they're just friends even though the guy literally jumped him. They made out, for fuck's sake."

Kristin's eyebrows went so high Mikey briefly worried they'd fly off her face. "How the hell do you miss a hint like that?!" She huffed, "God, that's not even a hint. It's just a confession.”

"I know!" Mikey exclaimed. "If the guy was being subtle about it, I'd cut him some slack, but the guy literally climbed on his lap and made out with him!"

"Maybe he'll realize something's up at the wedding!" Kristin joked.

He shot her a doubtful look. "I don't think you understand just how dumb my brother is." Mikey leaned slightly over the table and looked at the girl across him with sudden seriousness, "After the guy kissed him, he still said 'I don't know, maybe he's straight'. And the guy is just as dumb too, okay? My brother will do literally anything for him like the fucking idiot that he is and the guy doesn't notice. Then they say _I'm_ the dumb one."

"I don't know, you're sounding pretty smart to me.”

Mikey retreated humbly, “Well… probably not as smart as you. You're a math major and everything. I don't even know what a fraction is. Math is like, super hard.”

Kristin’s entire face lit up. “Math isn't as hard as people think!” she said enthusiastically. “You'd be surprised at how simple some of the more complicated concepts actually are. Math isn't just about calculations. Math is actually…” Kristin trailed off briefly and looked somewhere distant, smiling dreamily to herself as she completed, “math is actually really beautiful.” She then shook her head and seemed to snap out of her short trance, “Sorry, I'm rambling. I have a tendency to do that. My sister always says I talk too much.”

“No!” Mikey disagreed, starting to feel genuinely disappointed that Kristin had stopped talking. He found her passionate rant strangely endearing. “It’s totally fine. Uh…” he scratched his head, blushing slightly, “I don't mind. It’s nice when people… y’know… like stuff.”

“I totally agree!” She then raised a finger and said breathlessly, “Just a second, I'm getting really hot under this hoodie.” When Kristin removed her hoodie, however, Mikey saw something in blue and white that made all his thoughts freeze up.

“Holy shit, you like the Dodgers?!” Mikey gasped, pointing at her short sleeved baseball jersey. 

Kristin grinned excitedly, “Yes! I never miss a game!”

“Me either!” Mikey said emphatically. 

“My sister always says I'm crazy to watch something so boring, but she doesn't even know the rules of the game!”

“My brother says the same thing!” 

The pair stared at each other for a few seconds, smiling widely. Mikey definitely hadn't expected to find someone so intriguing while moping over Alicia. There was absolutely no trace of Alicia in Kristin. In fact, Mikey couldn't recall a single instance in which he felt this… _safe_ near his former girlfriend. This type of connection felt good, he thought. Freeing.

Kristin sat back and suddenly gave the other a shy tight-lipped smile, "You know… we should watch a game together." She quickly raised her hands defensively, "Not necessarily as a date or anything! I know you just broke up with your girlfriend and I think you should, you know… take the time to get over that. But it couldn't hurt to have at least a new friend in the meantime, right?"

"Right," Mikey agreed timidly. 

"There's a game this weekend," Kristin brought up. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to watch it together, right?"

Mikey had to agree, "Not a bad idea at all."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

When Mikey arrived home later in the evening, feeling strangely smiley, he certainly did not expect to find people in his living room. Gerard was usually home alone in the basement, and even when he wasn't alone, he'd bring Frank or Ray down into his bedroom rather than hang out upstairs. Which was what made it all the more shocking when Mikey opened the front door to find three people in the living room, sitting in a circle on the floor rather than on the couch - surrounded by dozens of books.

"The hell are you guys doing?" he asked, calling their attention as none of them seemed to be alerted by his entrance.

Ray was the first to answer. "We're trying to figure out what's wrong with your brother's witchcraft," he said, not raising his eyes off the copy of _The Basics Of Spellcasting_ in his hands. 

Hayley's response was more joyful. "Little Mikey Way!" she exclaimed. "Ya got so tall! Last I saw you, ya were just a little wee boy! Now you're bigger than Gee! Careful not 'ta slam your head on the door when ya walk by!" To her credit, Mikey had indeed experienced quite the growth spurt over the summer after Hayley had gone up to Berkeley, but her delivery made the boy more puzzled than anything else.

"Thanks..?" he answered, in case she meant it as a compliment.

"You're looking better," Gerard observed. "What's going on?"

Mikey looked down and shook his head. "Nothing," he said, a subtle smile painting his face. "I'll be up in my room in case you need me." The three other friends exchanged looks but said nothing else as the younger sibling made his way upstairs, ultimately vanishing from sight and earshot with the shut of a door.

"Anyways..." Ray started up again, "What if you didn't actually cast the spell?" He looked back down at his book and started reading what was on it, "According to this chapter titled _Intent, a spell can only be cast powerfully and accurately when the caster has a strong enough will to make it reality. Simply speaking aloud the words will not make a spell come true when it does not align with the caster's true desires. The intent of the caster can make or break the spell',"_ Ray concluded. He then elaborated, "So, say you didn't _actually_ want Frank to lose his memories. Maybe that's why nothing went wrong - you didn't actually cast anything."

Hayley nodded in agreement but quickly pointed out a flaw, "But that don't explain why all his other spells went bad. It just explains why that one didn't lead to nothin'." She sighed, "At this rate, we'll be here till the cows come home."

"Yeah..." Gerard said, looking back down at his copy of _Love Spells,_ "There is something interesting here, though. See this part right here," he began reading aloud, _"When a love spell is cast improperly, such as by weak intent or incorrect wording, the consequences of the spell might be specific to the witch and subject involved. Furthermore, they might prove to hinder the development of said love rather than aid it."_

"But _were_ your spells cast improperly?" Hayley asked. "From what I remember, before your magic started goin' wrong, you were bloody great at spellcastin'!" 

Ray concurred, "Yeah, I don't think the problem is your casting either. It has to be something else… something more changeable. You can't just unlearn how to practice witchcraft overnight when you've been doing it your whole life." He looked back down at his book and started reading a new chapter, _Magical Energy & The Auras of Witches._

"Wait a second!" Hayley proclaimed abruptly, raising both her hands. "What if the bad thing that happened is somethin' we can't see? And that's why we think nothin' bad happened?"

Gerard gave her a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"

Ray chimed in, "Like, what? You think he made Frank grow an extra testicle or something? Or maybe gave him pimples on his back or another thing he'd be too embarrassed to talk about? Or-"

"Hush!" she cut him off. "No!" Hayley shook her head. "I don't mean anythin' physical. I mean, you said Frank was drunk as a skunk when he kissed ya. It ain't impossible that he was gonna forget about the kiss _anyways._ So what if your spell actually made him _remember?_ What if _that's_ the bad thing that happened?" 

God. Gerard hadn't even thought of that. That was simply terrifying. He threw his book off somewhere random and flopped down on the couch face-down, groaning to himself in mortification. 

"What are you gonna do?" Ray wondered.

Gerard answered in a dismal tone, "I think I'll just lay down and die."

Ray frowned, "I thought you gays had a song for that." When Hayley and Gerard both turned to him with confused expressions, he clarified, "Y'know… that gospel song from the seventies that gay people love. _First I was afraid, I was petrified..."_

"I didn't know ya knew that song," Hayley gawked at him, eyes wide.

"I'm straight, not uncultured," Ray sassed. "Also..." he scratched the back of his neck shyly, "Christa loves that song."

Hayley smirked. "Right..." she teasingly poked at his shoulder, "that's your girl, isn't she?"

"Sorta… we're not official yet."

"Oh, c'mon!" Gerard joined Hayley in her teasing, "Christa's your girlfriend. You guys went on like, five dates already! When you're not here you're with her, which is like, all the fucking time now."

"I'm still gonna ask her, okay?!" Ray blurted out. "I'm actually gonna do it tonight… we're going to Santa Monica and I'm gonna ask her on the ferris wheel." When Gerard and Hayley both _awwwed_ in unison, Ray playfully shoved the two of them and looked down, concealing the red flushing his cheeks. "Alright, idiots, I get it."

The two friends didn't let up on their teasing, however. "Ray's in _love!"_ Gerard whined in a childish tone, reminiscent to a middle schooler poking fun at a friend. Ray shoved him back again and soon the three of them were laughing - Gerard felt strangely youthful like he hadn't felt in a while.

"Says you!" Ray retorted. "You're always like," he then put on a high pitched mocking voice, _"'Ooo, I love Frankie! Frankie doesn't love me! Frankie kissed me! What could it possibly mean?! Frankie this, Frankie that, wah wah wah!'"_ That made Hayley cackle loudly, her loud laughter echoing throughout the living room.

"I don't talk like that!" Gerard argued defensively.

Hayley disagreed. "That is exactly how ya sound!" she said in between hiccups. 

"Alright, alright," Ray's laughter died down. "Let's get back to figuring out why Gerard's witchcraft is like... _that._ What could we do?"

"Oh!" Hayley was quick to suggest, "Maybe we should test it. Do a spell right now, hun!" She explained, "The love spell book said that the consequences of a love spell can be specific to the two people involved, so…. maybe you should cast a spell that doesn't involve a person, like..." she raised a finger as if saying _wait a second_ and ran into the kitchen, soon emerging with a small potted plant and placing it on the floor by her friends. "Try a spell on this."

It was a pot of Donna's tulips. They hadn't bloomed yet and the petals were still arranged in a tight bulb shape, some colored red and others in yellow. "Try to make them bloom," Hayley told Gerard.

He shot his friends a confused look but figured it wouldn't hurt anyone to try. Gerard quickly thought of a spell that would work - luckily, Donna being into gardening had its perks - and soon got to casting. Gerard stared intently at the tulips, took a deep breath to focus his intentions, and started. 

_Dear Antheia, goddess of flowers.  
The winds of spring I feel in this room.  
And in your grace and power,  
let the world see these flowers bloom._

Once he was done, Gerard looked around to see a strange stillness in his living room. Hayley and Ray both held their breaths as they waited for something to happen, except… nothing did. They all looked at the flowers to see nothing had changed. Right as Hayley opened her mouth to ask what had happened, however, Gerard saw something black emerging from the roots, darkening its way up the stem and into the flowers. 

The flowers had started dying. Sure enough, the entire plant soon wilted and turned brown - lifeless. 

The three of them stared in bemusement at the pot for a few moments, unsure of what exactly to say. Ray then quietly muttered, "It… it did the opposite. It's… dead."

Hayley stayed silent for a few more moments before suggesting, "Why don't you try killin' it?"

"It's… uh… Hayley, it already looks pretty dead," Gerard observed intelligently, looking at the clearly lifeless plant. 

Ray placed a hand on his chin and nodded, "Actually, she has a point. Try it out. Cast a death spell on the plant anyways."

Gerard didn't exactly understand why on earth they were making this suggestion, but decided to oblige anyways. He focused on the plant once again, taking his usual pre-spell deep breath before he started casting. 

_Dear Thanatos, son of night.  
I feel the rivers of death turn into a boil.  
See this life, drain its light,  
and let no life grow from this soil._

Strangely enough, the flowers soon sprung back to life, the previously brown and wilted plant slowly turning back to green. Once the petal bulbs turned back to their original reds and yellows, they slowly opened up, blooming into gorgeous tulips. The three friends gazed at the plant in shock, wondering how on earth Gerard's magic was so deeply thwarted that his spells seemed to have the exact opposite consequences of their intended effects. 

In the end, Hayley was the first to speak, muttering, "Well I'll be damned."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

"I can't believe we're doing this," Gerard said incredulously, looking over at Frank who sat across him on his bed. 

The shorter boy giggled, a strange, kooky pot-giggle, and brought the joint to his lips once more. He exhaled, but the smoke came out in short puffs when he started laughing again. "I feel… tingly," he said with a lopsided grin. 

"Okay, you're stoned," Gerard laughed. "Pass that shit over here, you've had your turn already."

"Hm..." Frank looked up at him with his blood-shot eyes, "I don't know… I'm having such a good time, you feel me?"

Gerard wrapped his hand around Frank's wrist - the one he was using to hold the joint - and brought it towards himself. "Don't be a weed whore, Frankie," he joked.

However, when Gerard brought Frank's wrist towards himself, his entire body came along with him. Suddenly, Frank was a lot closer, his chest merely a few inches from Gerard's own and his wrist still firmly in Gerard's grip. However, Frank didn't retreat like Gerard expected him to like when they'd been this close outside the ice cream shop back in Malibu. Instead, Frank only continued looking up at him, his neck bent from how far up he had to look to meet the other boy's eyes. "What did you just call me?" Frank asked, although his tone was a lot more mischievous than it was offended. 

"I called you a weed whore," Gerard repeated, using his other hand to snatch the joint from Frank's fingers before he brought it to his own lips, blowing out the smoke slowly. For some reason, Gerard wasn't letting go of Frank's wrist, but Frank wasn't making any effort to get his hand back either. The two of them seemed frozen - or rather, _burned_ in place - by the sudden heat surrounding them.

The smell of the joint still burning in his fingers was driving Gerard slowly insane. His entire body felt, like Frank had described earlier, tingly. His mind was foggy and there was only one clear thought going through his head, looping over and over like a broken record.

Sin.

_Sin, sin, sin._

This was the second time Gerard had ever seen Frank look sinful. The way he looked up at him - his pupils fully blown out and his lips parted gently. Not like he was afraid, but simply waiting. Waiting for Gerard to do something. 

Gerard slowly raised the joint to Frank's lips and held it there. The shorter boy seemed to understand he was meant to take a hit - and he did, still not breaking the intense eye contact he held with the other boy. He inhaled for as long as Gerard held the joint to his mouth, slowly exhaling once the other boy decided he'd had enough. 

In his stoned brain, Gerard had a fleeting thought about this being weirdly hot. It felt just like that kiss, except they were barely touching. The weed was making not only him but the entire room feel intoxicating, inviting - _tempting._ He felt Frank blow out the smoke slowly at his face, the warm vapor dissipating around him in a cloud of what Gerard could still only think of as _sin._

Almost as if he'd read the other boy's mind, Frank impishly ushered, "Are you trying to introduce me to a life of sin?"

With a boldness that definitely came from the weed, Gerard answered, "Is it working?"

Frank bit his lip and examined the other's entire face with his eyes, glancing over his every feature before whispering, "More than you think." 

"Wait, Frankie," Gerard suddenly felt compelled to tell him something. He didn't know where exactly the bravery came from - although, just between us, it was definitely all the chemicals in what they just smoked - but Gerard now felt like it was the time to tell Frank something he'd been trying to say for months. "I need to tell you something."

Frank looked over his entire face again and asked softly, "What is it?"

Gerard sighed, took one last look at Frank's soft dark eyes, and blurted it out. 

"I'm a witch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG!!! HOW WILL FRANKIE REACT??? 
> 
> What do you guys think? :) Some sexual tension near the end there! Does Frank remember the kiss? What could be going on with Gerard's witchcraft? I love hearing your thoughts ;)
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	13. Horned God

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Horned God: Wiccan deity considered the personification of the life force of animals and the wild. God of nature, sexuality, and hunting. Associated with the Celtic god Cernunnos and _not_ associated with Christian concepts of the devil/Satan.

Frank cackled loudly. “What?” he asked with a grin, like he thought the other boy was joking around.

Gerard blinked at him a few times, a little puzzled at the reaction. "I'm a witch," he repeated.

"A witch?" Frank said sarcastically, as if mocking the other. "A _witch?"_

"Yes, Frankie," Gerard answered softly and once again repeated, "a witch." He briefly looked down at the cross the shorter boy usually wore on his chest to find that it was missing, and thought that Frank looked strangely incomplete without it. But quickly, the witch decided now was not the appropriate time to inquire and instead forgot about it. "I, Gerard Way, am a witch."

This, for some reason Gerard couldn't possibly fathom, made Frank start laughing even more. He clutched his stomach and looked to be on the verge of tears. His boisterous cackling eventually died down to giggling, but once he saw the other boy wasn't laughing along with him, Frank's entire expression immediately went serious and he gaped, "Wait, what?"

Gerard realized the joint in his fingers was still burning and had a thought about wasting weed, so he took a fast hit before reiterating, "I'm a witch. Like the rest of my family. My mom's a witch, Mikey's a witch, my grandma was a witch..." When Frank continued looking at him with a confused expression, Gerard elaborated, "You know… we hang out in a coven, there's a High Priestess, we do spells and hexes and charms and the like..." Gerard looked directly at Frank's blood-shot eyes and said with a calmness that even surprised himself, "I'm a witch, Frankie."

In a move that further surprised Gerard, Frank didn't bolt or show any fear. Rather, he looked intrigued, smirking subtly to the other as he snatched the joint back and inhaled slowly from it - Gerard could've sworn it was strangely seductive - before taking a long moment to look the other boy up and down. Gerard felt like he was being x-rayed. Frank was so close he could smell the weed in his breath, and Gerard felt his heart stop for a moment when all Frank said in response to his revelation was, "Show me, then." He blew the smoke directly at Gerard's face in a way that was both flirty and mocking.

Gerard stared at him for a few moments, also slightly flustered from how close Frank was; not that the THC flowing through his body was helping him out in that regard. "Sh-show you?" he stuttered.

Frank shrugged and brought the joint to his lips once more, giggling slightly to himself as he exhaled and put the joint out on Gerard's desk, tossing the butt out somewhere random. "You expect me to just believe you do actual _magic_ without actually seeing it?"

"Uh, Frank… my witchcraft isn't exactly-"

"So you won't show me?" Frank teased with a coy smile. "He claims to have magical abilities but I can't see them? Sounds like someone's a little liar," he giggled to himself again. 

"I'm not lying!" Gerard exclaimed. "It's just that… I'm not very good at doing witchcraft. My spells seem to have the opposite effect I intend them to have..." he explained shyly.

Frank raised an eyebrow daringly, "Show me anyways."

 _Show him?_ How was Gerard supposed to show Frank a spell when all of his spells went wrong? Well, Gerard figured they went wrong in somewhat predictable ways - usually having the opposite effect they were intended to. Gerard looked around his bedroom for something he could perform a harmless spell on, his eyes soon landing on a small cactus on his bookshelf. It looked somewhat healthy yet had no flowers - maybe if he performed the death spell he'd tried on those tulips, he could make the cactus grow some flowers? The idea was good enough to entertain, Gerard decided with his stoned brain.

He quickly grabbed the cactus and sat back down on his bed. Frank was still giving him that look - like he only somewhat believed in Gerard's abilities to do actual magic. Gerard knew that casting under the influence of a substance was hardly ever a good idea, but since his witchcraft was already going wrong anyways, he figured not much should change. Before he started casting, Gerard briefly worried about Frank freaking out when he saw that his witchcraft was very real indeed. However, when he looked back at Frank's face, behind the daring look he held, there was still the usual softness in his dark eyes. Gerard felt something inside him click right then but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

After taking a moment to focus his stoned mind, Gerard looked at the cactus intently and recited the same death spell he'd used on his mother's tulips a few days prior.

_Dear Thanatos, son of night.  
I feel the rivers of death turn into a boil.  
See this life, drain its light,  
and let no life grow from this soil._

As Gerard had predicted, a ring of small flowers slowly started blooming around the top of the cactus, bright pink against the spikey green. When he looked up at Frank, Gerard saw his eyes were wide, staring at the small potted plant in Gerard's hands. The taller boy inwardly flinched, waiting for some sort of explosion, but said explosion never came. Instead, Frank grinned widely. "Holy sh-" his hand flew over his own mouth to stop the cuss and after a few moments of shock, he removed his hand from his face to poke at the other's shoulder with strange excitement, "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

Gerard's entire face scrunched up, "Huh?"

"You've been able to do that the whole time we've known each other?!" Frank exclaimed brightly. "And you didn't even show me?!"

"I… I thought you would freak out," Gerard confessed. "You being Catholic and everything."

Frank ignored the latter comment and looked around the other's bedroom with wonder, his eyes eventually fixating on another small potted plant on Gerard's desk. "How come you grow plants down here?" he asked the taller boy as if he hadn't noticed this particular fact before. He then got excited again, "Is it magic too?!"

"Uh… yeah," Gerard scratched his neck. "My mom charmed that lamp so it beamed sunlight. So I could grow plants down here," he explained.

Frank gasped and pointed at the lamp in question, _"That lamp beams sunlight?!"_

"Well, every now and then we need to charge it under the actual sun, and I can make it shine like a no-"

Before Gerard could finish his sentence, Frank had already leapt out of his bed and gotten to the lamp, switching in on and holding his hand under it. He looked at the other in amazement, "Woah, that's warm just like sunlight!" 

Gerard couldn't help but smile himself at the smaller boy's excitement. "Because it's sunlight, Frankie." He tried picking up his previous explanation again, "I can make it shine like a normal lamp too, though. I wouldn't want to get a tan every time I sat down to draw at my desk, y'know?" 

Frank continued holding his hand under the light of the lamp and grinned. "What else in here is magic?" he wondered, looking around at Gerard's bedroom once more. 

"God, lots of things. My art supplies are all enchanted so they don't run out. So are most of my toiletries. What else..." he stopped to think for a moment. "My mom's desk is charmed to make her feel more awake whenever she sits down there. Oh, Mikey also charmed his Dodgers jersey so they'd have good luck whenever he-" before Gerard could finish listing, however, the sound of footsteps coming towards his bedroom started getting louder and louder, eventually coming to an end with someone opening the door.

Donna walked into the basement and soon lowered her eyebrows suspiciously, sniffing the room slightly before sighing, "I was going to tell you two that dinner's ready, but considering how this room reeks of marijuana, I'm guessing you won't take long to come upstairs and grab some food." She turned to her son before he could say anything, "Gerard… please invest in a vaporizer or a bong or something of the sort. Joint smoke is very harsh on the lungs," she said before making her way back upstairs without another word.

Frank looked shocked at the lack of a telling-off, "Your mom didn't get angry at you for smoking weed? In the house?!" he asked.

"She's a feminist witch from Los Angeles," Gerard reiterated. "She's not innocent of smoking too, occasionally."

"Woah… your family seems so cool," Frank said with awe. "We _should_ go eat, though," a glimmer appeared in his red eyes at the mention of food. "I feel like I could eat a horse."

"Just try to keep it cool at the dinner table, okay?" Gerard laughed. "That goes for both of us. We can't appear _too_ stoned, alright?"

Frank let out a short giggle before forcing his face to go serious. "Yes sir."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Frank and Gerard did not do a good job of staying serious at the dinner table. 

Actually, that is somewhat of a lie. The two of them did hold it in rather well until Donna served their food, which was when the two boys started vigorously digging into their dishes, not even bothering to say hello to Mikey or thank Donna. They ate like they hadn't eaten in days - devouring their food with an intensity that was almost frightening, even for two eighteen-year-old boys.

Mikey eyed them with a hint of fear on his face, "Holy shit, guys. Did you two run a marathon or something? What the hell..."

It took only a moment of eye contact between Frank and Gerard before the two of them cracked up, almost choking on their food as they laughed uncontrollably. They covered their mouths as if trying to contain their laughter but it was no use. Gerard had to stop looking at Frank or he'd choke on his food for real, and that was not the kind of thing he felt excited to have happen that evening.

Mikey narrowed his eyes, "Are you two _stoned?"_

Frank sucked in his lower lip and his eyes looked to be on the verge of tears before he retorted, "No, _you're_ stoned."

That joke wasn't particularly clever, but to Gerard's stoned brain, it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. The two boys looked at each other again and started laughing even harder, Frank slamming his forehead on the dinner table as he giggled to himself raucously. Donna hid her face in her hand as if embarrassed but said nothing. 

Mikey looked over at his mother and asked, "Can I have whatever they had? I want to have that much fun… existing." 

Donna took a deep breath, "As long as you do it in the house..." She then looked at the two boys across the dinner table, "And as long as you keep your manners somewhat."

At the mention of the word _manners,_ Frank seemed to sober up slightly, jolting up and coughing as if clearing his throat. He finished his food then and looked like he was containing himself until he gasped suddenly. Frank grabbed Gerard by the shoulders and shook him violently, "You know what we should do?!"

"What?!" Gerard asked with an excitement that for some reason, matched Frank's.

"We should go swimming!" Frank exclaimed.

Gerard gasped at the brilliant idea, "Yes!" It was an oddly hot night for November, so going for a swim sounded like a stroke of genius. A brief thought occurred to him about the two of them definitely sounding high as shit in that exchange, but _because_ he was high as shit, Gerard couldn't bring himself to care.

Donna chimed in, "If you two go swimming, for the love of God, do it in the pool in the backyard." She looked at Gerard seriously, "No driving to the beach or anything. Especially not in your..." she shaded, "current state."

By the time Frank and Gerard were done with their food and were out in the backyard, the effect of the weed had died down a little, yet Gerard still felt his body tingle pleasantly when he took his shirt off and felt the night air on his skin. It wasn't cold by any means, but Frank's gaze was enough to send a small shiver down Gerard's spine when he realized the shorter boy was staring at him as if plotting something. 

Gerard dipped his foot into the water in the pool to find it was satisfyingly cool, humming nicely to himself at the temperature. As he shook the water droplets off his foot, Gerard heard someone call out for him from behind and he turned around to look. 

"Hey, Gerard?" Frank mumbled. 

"What?" Gerard said innocently, as if he expected Frank to talk about the weather or something equally casual. 

However, instead of saying anything else, Frank placed both his hands flat on Gerard's chest and pushed him harshly into the pool. Normally, Gerard would've been able to fight off Frank, but because the shorter boy caught him by surprise, right into the water he went. When he rose up for air, Gerard saw the other was giggling at him, seeming pleased that he managed to throw the other into the pool. 

"Are you happy with yourself?" Gerard asked as he wiped the water off his face. When Frank's response came in the form of harder laughter, he decided to take it as a _yes._ "Now you have to come in too! You can't just leave me alone in here!" he put on a fake frown.

"I would _never,"_ Frank said coyly as he took off his shirt and slowly got into the pool himself, smoothing his wet hair down with a subtle smile. "It's nice," he murmured under his breath and swung his hands around in the water happily. 

Gerard smirked, an idea popping into his head. "You know why the water's nice?"

"Why?" Frank inquired genuinely, his wide eyes looking up at the other. He swam closer to Gerard and continued looking at him as he waited for an answer.

"The pool's enchanted," Gerard stated seriously.

Frank gasped, _"It is?!"_

Gerard couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter, "No, I'm just fucking with you. The water's probably just nice because of how hot it was during the day." The shorter boy scowled at that and splashed the other, looking unimpressed at his joke. Gerard squinted his eyes to avoid getting chlorine in them and splashed Frank back softly, avoiding using too much force when he pushed the water at the other. 

Frank flinched slightly but laughed too, "If I could cuss at you right now, I would."

"There's nothing stopping you." Gerard came closer to Frank and whispered, "God's not looking. Not when you're with a witch," he joked.

"Does God hate witches?" Frank asked suddenly, looking strangely concerned for the other.

Gerard tilted his head to the side contemplatively, "Well, it depends on which god you're talking about. Witches worship and call upon so many different gods. That's kind of what I love about being a witch," he smiled to himself without realizing it. "I'm not bound to one belief system ever. My mom always says witchcraft is about freedom."

Frank looked puzzled for a moment, "What do you mean you're not bound to one belief system?"

"I mean there's no particular holy book or guidelines. There are many different branches of witchcraft, but in our coven, we like to give ourselves the liberty of calling upon whatever deities we feel like. So if I want to pray to a Greek god in one day and an Ancient Egyptian one the next, I can. I can even pray to a Catholic saint if I want to." Gerard then shook his head, "Sorry, I must be boring you with all this witch talk."

"You're not!" Frank said with true sincerity behind his eyes. "I feel like I'm getting to know you better," he smiled kindly and his eyes twinkled under the moonlight. "Besides, it's kind of interesting, not gonna lie..."

Gerard chuckled, "I'm glad you find it interesting."

Frank pursed his lips and ran his fingers through the water as he thought of a question. He eventually asked, "Do you have like… a favorite god or goddess? Like, who's your go-to?"

"I talk to Aphrodite quite a lot. She's probably my favorite goddess, I'd say."

Frank looked up for a moment as if remembering something before he said, "That's the Greek goddess of love, right?" When Gerard nodded, Frank grinned and wondered, "Why is she your favorite?"

Gerard smiled back and answered, "Well, the High Priestess..." When Frank shot him another confused look, he quickly clarified, "That's the leader of our coven. She's the most powerful witch among us and her name's Maria. Anyways, when I was a kid and I used to spend the weekends with Maria learning about witchcraft, she always told me that love was the holiest thing to exist. She says it's the most divine gift humans have - the ability to love one another."

Frank was silent for a long moment before he whispered, "I like that… it's sweet." 

"It's true," Gerard answered with conviction. He then looked down once again at Frank's chest and remembered his earlier thought about his cross missing, and slowly stepped closer to the other through the water before placing a finger right above Frank's heart, where his cross usually sat. "You're not wearing your cross today," Gerard ushered. "I miss it."

"You do?" Frank looked surprised at that, raising his eyebrows. "But you're not even Catholic."

Gerard shrugged, "It has nothing to do with that. It's just that it was the first thing I noticed about you." He flashed the other a soft tight-lipped smile, "I feel like it's part of you. But if you don't wanna wear it anymore, of course I'll just get used to it."

"No!" Frank shook his head. "It's just that, uh… I forgot to put it on after showering this morning." Although Gerard didn't believe the excuse - Hayley's words about Frank struggling with himself and his faith echoing back to him - he chose to say nothing of it, instead nodding slightly. 

"Okay," he answered. "Thanks for being so nice about me being a witch, by the way."

"I like getting to know you, you know that, right?" Frank laughed lightheartedly. "I like it that you're different from me. I would've just stayed by myself if I liked myself that much. We're different, but it's good," he reasoned. 

That made Gerard smile. "I'm starting to think that too, Frankie."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day my lovelies! Do you have a date tonight? Clearly I don't because I'm posting MCR fanfiction on Valentine's lol. Hope you had a lovely evening regardless.
> 
> What are your thoughts on this chapter? I'm so happy about the way Frank and Gerard's relationship has evolved. The antagonist will make themselves known soon :3 I can't wait! The story's finally kicking off and I can't help but feel terribly excited.


	14. Phthonos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phthonos: Greek god of envy and jealousy.

By what Gerard could only describe as a divine miracle, Pete was actually starting to improve in biology.

It did take a couple of tutoring sessions for the boy to truly put his mind to learning the subject, but once he _did_ put his mind to it, Gerard found that Pete was surprisingly dedicated. Granted, his exam was approaching day by day, and as Gerard had later learned, Pete needed to pass biology to graduate as he'd failed out of both chemistry and physics during junior year. Therefore, his entire diploma was on the line for this one exam, and although Gerard wouldn't consider him and Pete _friends,_ he still wanted the boy to graduate.

"So..." Pete started, blocking out his flash card with his hand, "The mitochondria perform respiration..."

"Yes..." Gerard encouraged, "Except for…?"

Pete exclaimed, "Except for glycolysis!"

Gerard grinned, "Yes!" He then asked, "Which occurs _where?"_

"The cytoplasm!" Pete fired back immediately, looking extremely proud of himself. In all honesty, Gerard couldn't help but feel a hint of pride too. The boy had indeed come very far from their first tutoring session. 

"Well fucking done!" Gerard raised his hand and high-fived the other, who beamed with joy at his own success. It was then the sound of _Malibu_ by Hole started echoing through the dining room, and it took an estranged look from Pete for Gerard to remember that was Frank's ringtone on his phone. He quickly picked up the call, "Frank?"

The other boy answered brightly from the other end of the line, "Hey! Are you free right now? My parents aren't home and I'm really bored."

Gerard felt a hint of disappointment when he realized he had to decline. "No, sorry. I'm with Pete right now," he tried to make it clear through his tone that he'd much rather hang out with Frank than tutor Pete, hoping the other boy would somewhat get the message. 

"Oh," Frank answered after a short pause. "Are you guys… friends now?" 

That notion made Gerard laugh awkwardly, "Uh, no. I wouldn't exactly say we're _friends."_

 _"Oh,"_ Frank said through the phone, something about his tone making Gerard feel a pinch of hurt in his chest. "Okay then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." They had indeed planned a small gathering on Saturday afternoon - the next day - with Ray and Hayley to further investigate the reasons behind Gerard's questionable witchcraft, the friends now excited about the fact they'd enlisted the help of yet another person. Four brains had to be better than three. 

Before Gerard could respond, Frank hung up, leaving him to stare at his phone in bemusement for a few seconds until Pete poked him, "Hey, we still need to revise photosynthesis today."

"Right," Gerard shook his head and locked his phone. He sighed, "Back to biology."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Every friend group possesses a smarter friend. One who usually poses more mature ideas and solutions to problems faced by a person or persons in the group. A friend who most of the time, knows the best way to navigate complicated situations, having a knack for problem-solving and generally, being rather intelligent.

Said friend is also usually ignored.

And unfortunately for the unfolding of this story, Ray Toro was such a friend.

Later that Friday evening, he held open a copy of _The Basics Of Spellcasting,_ which Donna had allowed him to take home to study further after the previous time he'd been over. In that time period, Ray had actually read the whole thing, and the book was returned to the Way residence complete with post-it notes and side annotations.

"We're not in high school anymore, dude," Gerard told the other as he lounged on his bed, mindlessly scrolling through social media. "You don't need to annotate your reading anymore."

Ray looked up at his friend with a thoughtful expression. "But annotation is a useful logical and memory tool," he said calmly yet with confidence.

Fucking hell. Alright. "You find anything useful?"

Ray briefly raised a finger as he opened up a marked page on another book Donna had lent him, _The Magical Auras & Energies Of Witches._ He looked back and forth between the two open books, a hand on his chin as usual, before asking, "What can you tell me about magical energy?"

"Well, it's sorta specific to each witch," Gerard vaguely recited what Maria had taught him as a child, "kind of like a fingerprint. Depending on their magical energy, a witch can be more predisposed to a certain kind of magic."

"Mhm..." Ray hummed, writing something down on the margins of one of the books. He took notes for a few moments before asking, "Can you give me examples?"

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, a little baffled at Ray's strange curiosity, but still did not raise his eyes off his phone, "Uh… sure. Mikey's clairvoyant but he's still getting the hang of it. And Maria's psychometric. She's really good."

Ray nodded pensively, "That's like… the touch version of being clairvoyant, right?"

"Yeah," Gerard confirmed. "She senses things by touching them," he said, tone still rather bored.

"And she's better because she's older, right?" When Gerard nodded in agreement, Ray then asked, "But is her magical energy stronger? Like, does your magical energy grow stronger as you grow older?"

"No," Gerard shook his head, finally looking up from his phone. "We just learn how to control it better." He explained shortly, "Mikey gets visions sporadically and he can't really control what he sees, but Maria can control when and where exactly she sees things. That's why he does rather simple charms when the subject isn't divination."

Ray wrote something down, "Alright. What about you?"

Gerard shrugged off casually, "My magical energy's more like my mom's. It's not really focused on anything. We don't have particular gifts, but it also means we can master almost any kind of witchcraft to some degree." He then wondered, "What's with all the witchcraft questions?"

"Just answer them," Ray responded mysteriously. "I promise I'm getting somewhere. Anyways, it says here," he pointed down at a passage of _The Magical Auras & Energies Of Witches_, "that only seers can sense the magical energies of other witches. By seers, it means..."

"Mikey and Maria, basically," Gerard completed. "She was actually the one who found out he was clairvoyant. Any witch that has the gift of seeing things is a seer. Clairvoyance is more common but there's other kinds, like psychometry. A witch that can know things beyond their physical means, basically."

Ray spent a long moment writing things down on both books in front of him before asking a final question, "And can a witch _change_ their own magical energy?"

"Only through really powerful types of witchcraft... and it's usually in a bad way," Gerard put his phone down, now somewhat seeing where Ray was trying to go. "I would've had to do something really bad or weird to fuck up my magical energy like that. To fully reverse the effects of my spells? As a witch, changing your own magical energy is like… brain surgery."

"Delicate and with possibly terrible consequences?" Ray surmised.

"Exactly."

The curly-haired boy was silent for a few moments in which Gerard could've sworn he could see the metaphorical gears turning in his brain. After some long seconds of organizing his thoughts, Ray laid out exactly what was on his mind, "So, I was thinking that there must be a component of your witchcraft that doesn't depend on you. From what I read, and from what you told me, the only thing that can be wrong is your energy."

"Huh..." Gerard chuckled, "so Mikey _did_ have a point when he said my vibes were wack."

"He might be better at clairvoyance than you think," Ray joked. "Okay, jokes aside, think about it. You didn't unlearn how to do witchcraft. And you said that witches actually get more powerful as they age. So, seventeen-year-old Gerard _shouldn't_ be a better witch than eighteen-year-old Gerard, you know what I mean?"

Gerard nodded. That did make a lot of sense. But there was one thing that was still unclear, however. "But how in the hell did I fuck up my magical energy?"

Ray pursed his lips. "Do you think you could've done it by accident?" he suggested. "I mean, you're very experimental with your witchcraft. You know that. Maybe in one of your spells, a little something went wrong and then… boom. You reversed your energy. Kinda like how the earth's magnetic poles occasionally reverse at random."

Gerard shot the other a surprised look, "They do that?!"

"Yeah, but… that's besides the point," Ray quickly gave up on the metaphor. "The point I'm trying to get at is… do you think there's a way we could try and re-reverse your energy? Put it back in place?"

That idea was good, but also terrifying. Like abruptly seeing a strange dog running towards you - unpredictable. "I don't know if it's a good idea, man. We'd need to talk to my mom or maybe even the High Priestess about it. It's very advanced magic. I don't even know if my _mom_ would know how to go about it properly, and she's good at like… every type of witchcraft." Gerard argued further, "Besides, we don't even know if that's the problem. What if my magical energy's fine and we end up fucking with my craft forever?"

That was also a good argument by Gerard. Way to go, he told himself. It wasn't every day he could hold his own in an argument against Ray, even though the two of them were only casually bouncing ideas off of each other that evening.

"Yeah, I get it," Ray agreed comprehensively. "Can I ask you for a favor, though?"

"Sure..?"

Ray asked, "You have a book you use to document your spells, right? I read in the _Basics Of Spellcasting_ that witches usually keep one of those."

"Oh, yeah, my Book of Shadows," Gerard pointed towards a leather-bound notebook on his desk. "My research is also in there. There's quite a lot about Aphrodite and love magic but there's a little bit of everything. What about it?"

Ray explained, twirling his pencil in his fingers, "I wanna look at the spells you did around the time your witchcraft started going wrong. Maybe there's something in those particular spells that might give us a clue. If you let me borrow it for tonight, maybe I'll have something by the time we meet Frank and Hayley tomorrow."

That seemed like a fair point. Gerard didn't intend on casting anything that evening, so he wouldn't need the notebook himself. "I don't see why not. Have at it. I think that particular one goes back about two years so it should do fine."

"Thanks," Ray smiled, already leafing through the notebook. "I'll have a fun time with your chicken scratch ass handwriting," he smirked, cheekily poking fun at the other.

Gerard grabbed a pillow off his bed and tossed it playfully at Ray, "Idiot."

The curly-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "We both know that's not true."

And as usual, he was right.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Someone who was not usually right, however, was Pete Wentz. 

Especially when the subject was in any way scientific. See, Pete _did_ possess intellectual talent. Unfortunately for him, though, this talent was in no way allocated to his mathematical or scientific skills. Therefore, even though he was making progress in biology, the road to a passing grade was still long - much longer than simply learning the details of cellular respiration. And thus, on Saturday morning, there he was again, sitting at the dining table with a relatively unhappy Gerard. 

"Alright, so… the right lung has five lobes, right?" Pete asked absentmindedly. And as usual, he was wrong.

That ludicrous statement made Gerard jolt awake from his daydream. _"Five?!"_ he exclaimed. "No, that's how many lobes there are _in total._ The right lung has three lobes, the left has two. The right is also bigger than the left." 

Pete looked puzzled by that. "Why is the right bigger than the left?"

"What else, besides the left lung, is on the left side of your chest?"

Pete froze for a few moments before throwing out, "The left ribs?"

Gerard patiently corrected him, _"No,_ it's the heart. It's on the left side of your chest. That's why the left lung needs to be smaller - it needs to make room for your heart inside your chest."

"The heart is on the left side of the chest?" the younger boy asked, looking down at his own chest for a brief moment in amusement. 

Alright. Gerard generally preferred to stay nonjudgemental of Pete's lack of general biological knowledge, but that particular fact seemed so obvious that he had to say, "Holy shit, Pete. I would ask if you've been living under a rock for seventeen years, but unfortunately I know you live in a _very_ nice house up in Brentwood."

Pete rested his face on his hand tiredly, "I think I might need two hours today."

"Sorry, but I only have time for one," Gerard declined apologetically. "Actually, maybe not even that. Ray, Frank, and Hayley are all coming over soon and Frank is usually early."

To Gerard's surprise, Pete seemed to understand that, "Alright, then let's at least make something of what we have today."

"When's your exam?" Gerard thought to ask, trying to get a better grip on their timeline.

"I think it's in the second week of December? December 10th, sorta?" Pete scrunched up his nose. "I'm shit with numbers, dude. But around then. I'm pretty sure."

"Alright, we can make do with that. That's still about three weeks from now, so we have time to go over what is hopefully enough for you to pass." Gerard added attentively, "If you wanna give me your syllabus, I think I can sorta work out how much of it you need to pass. Then we can go over that carefully to make sure you master it and sorta... wing the rest."

In an extremely rare event, Pete's face softened, his expression suddenly showing something rare for a rich Catholic schoolboy - gratitude. "Thank you!" he launched himself at the other and strangely, gave Gerard a hug which the elder did not return. "I didn't think you would care so much!"

"Well," Gerard patted Pete's back awkwardly, "that's a bit of an overstatement. Just because we aren't friends, that doesn't mean I don't want you to graduate. I'm just being nice, you-"

As his luck would have it, the universe decided that was the exact moment it would send Frank Iero through the front door. He walked into the Way residence with his usual calm demeanor but his face quickly shifted once his eyes landed on Pete, who was - again, as luck would have it - hugging Gerard.

"Hi," Frank said curtly, staring at the two boys with an unreadable expression.

Gerard was quick to push Pete off him, but it seemed like whatever Frank had thought was irreversible, because instead of greeting the taller boy like he usually did, all Frank did after a few moments of dense silence was ask coldly, "Where's Mikey?"

"Uh..." Gerard answered quietly, pointing a finger up at the ceiling, "up in his room."

Without another word, Frank stormed past the two boys in the dining room, making his way upstairs and barging into Mikey's bedroom without knocking - which is not usually a good idea when you're barging into a teenager's bedroom. However, in what was unironically a feat of luck, Mikey was simply sitting at his desk on his laptop, writing his college applications. 

He was still alarmed by Frank's sudden appearance. "Holy shit, dude! What the fuck? You scared me!"

Instead of answering Mikey, Frank simply grabbed a pillow that sat on the middle of Mikey's bed and threw it aggressively at the headboard. He crossed his arms and sat down on the now empty spot, his face clearly full of what Mikey could tell was anger with a hint of something else. 

Once he noticed this, Mikey's entire demeanor changed. He half-shut his laptop and looked at the other boy with concern, "What the hell happened? Why are you so mad?"

Frank frowned for a moment before he started ranting, "Gerard doesn't have time for me anymore! He's just with Pete all the time, now it's always," he put on a mocking tone, _"oh, sorry, I can't hang out, I'm with Pete. You can't come over, Pete's here!"_ The shorter boy got up and started pacing back and forth, "Is he like, in love with Pete? Is Pete his _boyfriend_ now or something?"

There was something about Frank's latter statement that didn't seem quite right to Mikey, and it had nothing to do with the clear jealousy behind his words. It came as no surprise to him - evidently, the boy had feelings towards his brother, and Mikey knew that, but it was something else. Something about Frank's last sentence just didn't seem right. Since he couldn't figure it out, he opted to continue listening attentively.

When Mikey responded with silence as he was busy contemplating, Frank continued, "If Gerard doesn't want me around anymore, he doesn't have to just replace me with Pete! What?! Is that his type or something?" he huffed crankily, his arms folded tightly across his chest. "He likes short guys or whatever?!"

That was it. Gerard's _type._

"Wait, Frank, stop talking," Mikey raised his palm at the other, which surprisingly, actually shut him up. "You know Pete's bi because he told you, but Gerard didn't tell you that he's gay. You're not supposed to know that yet." When those words came out Mikey's mouth, Frank froze right where he stood, eyes wide and now unguarded. Afraid. "The only way you should know Gerard likes guys is if..."

There was a long, deafening silence in Mikey's bedroom then. The two of them stared at each other for God knows how many seconds, the weight of Mikey's realization falling on the two of them. Mikey could swear he heard the sound of Frank's heartbeat then, fast and hard. 

The taller boy narrowed his eyes. "You remember what happened on Halloween night, don't you?"

Frank gulped and stared back at Mikey. 

"Don't tell Gerard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot my usual sign-off after updating my last chapter! Wtf! I'm so sorry. I'm deeply ashamed.
> 
> Anyways, that was a big reveal!!! What do we think? :) I was so excited for this chapter that I jumped straight into it after the last one! I hope you liked it because there's a lot of important stuff here after the last one was so fluffy!
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	15. Crone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if you haven't listened to [Malibu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0CYB5V9e64) by Hole yet, please do so! It's sorta F and G's song in this fic. It's very soft and cute. It has good vibes and it'll make you swoon over their relationship even more. I promise you'll love it.
> 
> Also??? THANKS FOR 1.4K??? Gimme a little kith you adorable people. Anyways, back to the story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crone: Third and final face of the Wiccan Triple Goddess. Also known as The Dark Mother and The Wise One. The Crone is the Triple Goddess at her eldest, wisest, and most powerful.

"Don't… tell Gerard?" Mikey stumbled, confused. "Gerard deserves to know that you remember what happened that night, dude."

Frank violently shook his head, taking a step back. "No, he's already upset that I kissed him." He looked somewhere distant and got a terrified look on his face. "He'll be so mad at me..."

Mikey thought that was a load of bullshit, but decided to phrase his thoughts a little more delicately than that. "Gerard isn't upset because you kissed him. He's upset because he thinks you only did it because you were drunk and don't actually like him. Also, I don't think Gerard _can_ get mad at you.” 

There was a moment in which Frank almost looked convinced, but it seemed like something else took him aback, because he started shaking his head again and mumbling, "No," repeatedly under his breath. He gave Mikey a pleading look, "You have to promise me you won't tell Gerard. Mikey, you _have_ to promise me that."

"Uh… Frank… I don't know if-"

 _"Promise me, Mikey. Please,"_ Frank pleaded again, his dark eyes wide and scared. 

Holy shit. Mikey was starting to see why Gerard did just about everything for this boy. His convincing abilities were off the chart. He huffed humorously, "I get it now why Gerard grants your every wish like a fucking genie, dude. Wow."

That made Frank look hopeful, "So you'll promise me?"

The younger sibling was starting to see there was no way out of this situation. The problem about being a witch in this circumstance is that generally, many witches believe bad actions - such as breaking promises - will bring back bad energy towards themselves threefold. Mikey Way was such a witch. He believed doing bad things would attract bad things. Therefore, if he made the promise to not tell his brother that Frank did indeed remember the kiss, breaking it would be much scarier than keeping the secret forever. And now, Mikey was seeing there was no way Frank would let him out of this situation without making this promise. 

When Mikey didn't answer, Frank repeated, "You _promise?"_

After a long, hesitant silence, Mikey sighed and answered, with a weird weight in his chest, "Urgh, fine. I promise."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

"Here ya are again!" Hayley squeezed Frank's cheeks and shook his face around like an auntie would to a young nephew. "I could never tire of your face! I see why Gee keeps ya around! You're finer than a frog hair split four ways!"

Most of the time, Hayley's southern-isms were easy to interpret based on context, but on occasion, she would say something so strange and so specific that the best option was to mindlessly agree and continue living your life in eternal wonder. 

Frank looked confused, rightly so. "Thanks?" he tried to respond, his voice muffled by Hayley's iron grip on his face.

She continued as if he hadn't spoken, "Y'know, if I had my druthers, all the fellas in the world would be as gentle as you! You're pretty and sweet like a lil' peach! I bet you bruise like one too, you're so pale! If ya took a spankin' you'd look redder than a-"

Gerard immediately put his hands between the two of them and drew them apart, "Alright, that's enough of Hayley for you today, Frankie." Jesus fucking Christ, did that girl have anything even remotely close to a _filter?_

"Hold your horses, big man. I'm just bein' nice to him," Hayley sassed with a grin, her mouth adorned in a hot pink lipstick. She turned back to Frank after letting go of his face and muttered like she was telling him a secret, "What's your star sign, little peach?"

"Erm… Scorpio..?" Frank answered hesitantly, as if suspicious of the motive behind her question.

Hayley raised her eyebrows and gave him a knowing look. "And ya grew up Catholic? Oh hun..." she said softly. "Y'know, I was right about the spankin', and that's 'cause I know about guilt and-"

Luckily for just about everyone present, Ray interrupted before she could finish her sentence, "Hey, don't we have a witchcraft mystery to solve?"

Gerard was quick to agree, "Yeah! Let's all, uh..." he motioned towards the sitting area in the living room, "take a seat and get to studying." He shot Ray a grateful look which the boy returned with a small smile. 

Soon enough, the entire gang was sitting around the living room. Ray had opted to stay on the floor as he had a multitude of books open, while Frank lounged distractedly on the couch, checking his phone for miscellaneous internet content. Gerard decided to take a seat by Ray as he was indeed the witch in question and was sharing some of the books the curly-haired boy had open. In what was hopefully not a dangerous choice, Hayley took a seat next to Frank on the couch, occasionally looking at him with what Gerard could only identify as amusement.

“So,” Ray started, looking down at Gerard’s Book Of Shadows, “I was having a look through the spells you cast around the time your witchcraft started going wrong.”

“And what did you gather?” Gerard wondered genuinely.

Ray looked at his friend with a dull expression, “That you're a weird plant freak.”

“Huh?”

Ray raised the leather-bound notebook towards the other and justified himself, “These are all fucking plant and herbal spells! Were you a green witch or something? Were you trying to start a botanical garden in your backyard? What the hell is all this plant magic?!” he ranted.

“Oh,” Gerard chuckled shyly, “I got really into gardening the summer before senior year.” 

“Yeah… I could fucking tell.” Ray then read a passage of a book titled _Plant And Flower Magic,_ “And look at what it says here. _Generally, plant magic has one of the highest success rates amongst all kinds of witchcraft due to its simplistic and straightforward nature. Unlike more complex branches of witchcraft such as divination and necromancy, there is no nuance or specific gift required to cast spells on plants. Thus, these spells are unlikely to have adverse effects and in the rare circumstance of a misspell, the plant will absorb the negative energy in place of the caster, leaving the witch unharmed.”_

The friends pondered on those words for a few moments. “So… ya got nothin’?” Hayley eventually summarized.

Ray raised a finger, “Not _nothing,_ exactly. There was one spell that was a little different. Do you remember, by any chance, what spell I'm talking about?” he asked Gerard.

The witch shrugged cluelessly, “I’ve got no idea.” He looked over at Frank to see he was still on his phone, seeming to be only listening to the discussion somewhat. Gerard thought he looked to be in some sort of mood. The look Frank gave Pete as the boy left the Way residence - his eyes intently following him on the way out - was definitely unlike anything Gerard had seen from Frank before. 

"So, I found this one spell you did. Actually, it's the simplest spell you performed and it seems like it happened after your witchcraft started going wrong," Ray informed curiously, seeming to be fascinated by what he was talking about. "You gave Mikey good luck on a math exam. And nothing seems to have gone wrong. Which led me to something interesting..."

Hayley was on the edge of her seat, "What?! Just say it already!"

Ray scrambled for a book, _The Basics Of Spellcasting,_ and turned to the very last chapter. One section seemed to be heavily highlighted and annotated. "It says here that there is one type of spell that no matter what, will always be successful and cannot be interfered with. An unbreakable spell. You know what that is?" he asked the witch.

"Oh, yeah," the High Priestess, Maria, had told Gerard about this before. "A selfless spell cast with true love can't be broken or thwarted."

Frank finally looked up from his phone and spoke up for the first time, "What does that mean exactly?"

Gerard smiled, because he thought this was actually rather cute. "When a witch casts a spell that is truly selfless, and when they cast it onto someone they love, it can't be broken or thwarted no matter what." He then added quietly - thoughtfully, "I cast a spell to give Mikey luck with an exam I knew he really needed help with. And nothing went wrong. The spell worked because… I love my brother and the spell didn't benefit me in any way."

This revelation caused Gerard to reflect on all his previous spells. They went wrong, but they didn't go wrong for just any reason. They went wrong because he was being selfish. Had Gerard not been selfish with his magic, perhaps none of the negative consequences that came with his witchcraft would have happened. 

Hayley seemed to find that particular fact sweet as well, "That's damn cute." Her expression quickly turned into a frown, however, "But how does it help us?"

"It confirms that Gerard definitely knows how to cast spells," Ray explained. "If the problem was his spellcasting, that wouldn't have worked. It also explains why nothing went bad that time you blessed my dog when he was sick. It was selfless and… well, I hope you love me enough at this point to care about my dog," he said humorously.

Gerard laughed, "No, I think you're an insufferable smartass," he responded with a roll of his eyes. His hopes went south fast, "But… that still doesn't explain what's wrong with my witchcraft."

"Hm… yeah..." Ray hummed in agreement, getting up off the floor and now pacing back and forth. "You cast only plant spells, except for one good luck charm," he rambled to himself, as if just voicing out his thought process. "The problem has to be with your magical energy if it's not your actual casting, but your energy is hardly changeable unless you did something major, but nothing major..."

Frank interrupted Ray's pensive rant and casually threw out, "What if it's another witch?"

Even though Frank's tone indicated he put absolutely no faith into this idea, as soon as those words were out in the universe, it was like something _clicked._ Ray and Gerard's heads simultaneously snapped towards each other and they exchanged a look that said everything either of them needed to know. 

It was so obvious that Gerard started laughing at himself and his friends for not figuring it out sooner. Here they were looking at the intricacies of witchcraft when the answer was so simple. 

"Frankie, you're a genius!" Gerard exclaimed, jumping off his spot on the floor too and rushing towards a drawer. 

The shorter boy frowned, "I am?!"

Ray nodded, "Yes! It's the only thing that makes perfect sense!"

"And..." Gerard soon completed, removing a collection of reflective trinkets from the drawer he'd been scrambling, "we can easily test it!" He turned to the girl lounging on the couch, "Hayley, can you grab a plant from the kitchen? It can be those tulips you grabbed last week. And some salt too!"

She nodded and ran towards the kitchen, emerging with the flowers and salt in hand in no time. Gerard sat back on the floor and took the various mirrors he'd grabbed from the drawer. He laid them out in the circle around him, the reflective surfaces facing away from himself. "Can you give me the stuff?" he reached up and the girl handed him the small potted plant, which Gerard placed directly in front of him. When he grabbed the salt, however, Gerard held it up to Frank, "Can you make a small circle of salt right where the mirrors are?"

"Me?" Frank asked with a confused look. "Why me?"

Gerard shrugged, "You seem like you'd do it neatly."

For the first time that afternoon, Frank actually looked happy, a hint of pink flushing his cheeks as he quietly took the salt from Gerard. As he'd predicted, Frank did indeed make quite the neat salt circle - better than most witches he knew, actually. 

"Wow," Gerard praised, "I'd think you were a witch if you weren't wearing that cross around your neck.” Indeed, the golden cross Frank usually wore around his neck was back, right where it usually sat atop his heart. Gerard found himself surprised at how happy he felt to see it had returned. 

Frank responded by playfully throwing a bit of salt at Gerard. "Just shut up and do your magic, witch."

That made Gerard laugh. He'd never heard Frank say something so straightforward - it was almost like hearing him cuss. "Alright," the witch took a deep breath and looked down at the tulips - they'd gone back to their regular bulb-shape. Gerard told himself that he could make them bloom. He'd done many spells like this over the summer prior to senior year. If there was another witch trying to interfere with his witchcraft, the mirrors surrounding Gerard would redirect that negative energy right back towards the other witch. 

He could see his friends all watching him intently as he focused and started casting. 

_Dear Antheia, goddess of flowers.  
The winds of spring I feel in this room.  
And in your grace and power,  
let the world see these flowers bloom._

There was a collective silence as the four of them waited for something to happen. Gerard mostly expected the poor plant to die, just like it'd done the last time he cast this spell on it. However, in a complete contradiction to his expectations, the red and yellow petals slowly started opening up. 

The flowers were blooming. 

They all watched in awe as the spell took its intended effect. Gerard couldn't tell who looked more impressed - him or Frank. Gerard couldn't believe his eyes and it seemed like neither did Frank, because he watched the tulips bloom with the same level of shock as Gerard felt his face must've been painted with. 

Hayley was the first to express herself, "Well I'll be damned."

Gerard started laughing, "Holy shit!" His laughing grew and grew until it grew to a cackle that could've almost been misconstrued as evil, "I'm a witch! I'm really a witch!"

Frank beamed right back at him, "You are!"

"Am I the only one here who's worried?!" Ray curtly interrupted their celebration. His tone was concerned and urgent, "Gerard, this means someone's trying to interfere with your witchcraft!"

It was in that exact moment that Mikey flew down the stairs and into the living room, his hair wet and his clothes sticking to his skin in a few damp patches like he'd rushed to get out of the shower. The younger sibling looked like he'd seen a ghost. 

"Gerard!" Mikey ran towards his brother and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. "We need to go see Maria, right now!"

Gerard didn't fight his brother but still questioned his urgency, "Mikey, what the hell happened? Did you have a vision?!"

"Yes!" the younger exclaimed. "Someone's..."

"Interfering with my witchcraft?!" Gerard completed.

Mikey nodded vigorously, "Yes!" He looked around at the others and calmed down for a moment, "How did you know?"

"We just figured it out..." Ray told him, "We tested it out with the mirrors and his witchcraft works fine." He looked over at Gerard, "I agree with Mikey, by the way. It's about time we talk to this High Priestess lady about your witchcraft."

For once, Gerard did exactly as Ray told him. 

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Frank thought the High Priestess' house was just about the strangest looking house he'd ever seen.

It was _tall,_ almost like a plant stem growing straight up towards the sunlight. However, the façade was dark and wooden, a stark contrast to the bright-looking suburban L.A. houses surrounding it. It reminded him of a goth-looking cottage. Even though he wasn't anything close to being a witch, Frank could almost _feel_ the strong magical energy surrounding this house, like a magnetic pull drawing him into it. However, he strangely did not find this weird or creepy. Rather, the house had an inviting feel to it. Frank felt confused by this but remained quiet as they got on the porch. 

Gerard froze right before he could ring the doorbell and turned to the shorter boy, "Hey, Frankie, there's uh… there's something you should know about Maria before you meet her."

"What is it?"

Gerard gave him a nervous smile, "She's psychometric. It means she can know things by touching them." He explained shortly, "So, if she touches you and suddenly knows random shit about you... uh… please don't freak out."

Frank was about to ask _what kind of thing_ before the front door slowly swung open, a short, middle aged blonde woman on the other end of it greeting them with a smile. "Gerard, darling. I had a vision you and your brother were coming here." She turned to Mikey, "I assumed you had the same vision?"

Mikey extended his hand out to Maria as if giving her a handshake, but when their hands met, they only held each other tightly instead of shaking. The older woman shut her eyes and nodded. "Yes…. that's what I saw too," she said, her eyes still closed. She then turned to Frank and offered him her hand. He hesitantly shook it and as soon as they touched, the High Priestess smiled at him and Gerard kindly, "I see you brought your lover with you, Gerard. Congratulations."

The sudden statement made Frank immediately pull his hand away from Maria's grip. Who the fuck was this weird woman? 

Maria's appearance wasn't any more _normal_ either. Her waist-long blonde locks were large and wavy and she wore baggy black clothing. In Frank's head, this woman looked like a cartoon caricature of a witch except… kind. She looked motherly and welcoming. Some strands of her hair were braided and she had an upside-down crescent moon painted in white on her forehead. Clearly, this was _her_ normal, as no one else but Frank seemed to be particularly stricken by her appearance. 

Gerard giggled nervously, "He's not, uh… my boyfriend."

The woman gently placed a hand atop Frank's head and her expression changed vaguely. Maria momentarily looked saddened by something before she took her hand back and motioned for the friends to all step inside. "Come on in, my loves." Her voice was gentle and soft. Frank had the weird thought that the High Priestess felt a lot more welcoming than any priest he'd ever met.

Maria took a seat on a patterned rug in the living room and told the others to join her, forming a circle. Frank felt like he was _supposed_ to feel out of place in here, but... he didn't. Gerard had mentioned spending time with Maria as a child, and Frank almost smiled to himself as he looked around the living room and imagined the young Gerard walking these halls and these rooms. He could definitely imagine it. Frank could almost feel the young Gerard's presence in the house with him if he looked at the several bookshelves lining the walls hard enough.

The inside of Maria's house reminded Frank of Gerard, somehow. It was dark, but not scary - cozy, rather. Most of the walls and furniture seemed to be wooden, and various soft-smelling candles were burning, giving a warm ambient light that felt so impossibly different from the brightness and coldness of a church. Instead of having empty bright walls like a church, Frank couldn't even properly see a section of wall in this house from all the bookshelves, paintings, and plants lining them. The soft rug Frank sat on felt nothing like a pew. The herbal smell of incense burning reminded him of the tea Gerard had made him one particular afternoon - Frank felt almost obligated to trust this woman. Her presence was so similar to Gerard's it was hard not to. 

When Gerard took a seat at the circle, Maria patted the rug directly in front of her, "No, sweetheart, you sit right here." 

"Oh, okay," Gerard shuffled towards the indicated spot and the woman hummed pleasantly. 

She placed both her hands on her lap, her palms facing up, and Gerard placed his own on top of them. Frank felt like a foreigner in a different country - watching customs he had no clue of. The two of them didn't need to exchange words for Gerard to understand what Maria wanted to do. Well, Frank had been told - and seen - that Maria could sense things through touch, so Frank quickly assumed she was attempting to somehow read Gerard.

The High Priestess closed her eyes and clutched both of the boy's hands. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked to be concentrated for a few moments before she hummed, "Hm… indeed, your vision was correct, young Michael. Well done."

Instead of having some sort of excited reaction as would be expected of him, Mikey only looked concerned. What he saw must've not been any good. 

There was a long silence in which Maria seemed to be feeling something else before she asked the boy in front of her, "Gerard, darling, do you remember what I told you about love? What is love to witches?"

"The most powerful weapon we can wield," Gerard answered quietly.

The woman smiled approvingly. "Yes. Some love complements you. It adds color to your life," Frank felt Maria's gaze briefly turn to him before she looked back at Gerard. "But," she continued somberly, "some love eats away at you. Like a parasite."

Gerard looked puzzled by what the elder witch was saying. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you, Gerard Way, have a parasite." 

Like thunder had struck, a weird suspense filled the room then. Hayley was fast to ask, "What exactly do ya mean?"

Maria explained, "I mean… I know this energy." She held on tightly to Gerard's hands again and closed her eyes, "I know this particular energy. There's yours, but there's someone else's too. I know this energy and you should too."

Gerard slowly pieced together what Maria was trying to tell him. "Adam?" he whispered, shocked. "How can you tell?"

She opened her eyes and looked directly at the younger witch. "He's a seer too. Clairaudience. It has a very distinct… wavelength. It's a rare type of sight." Maria's eyes then took upon an intensity that almost scared Frank, "I know another seer when I feel one."

Ray was the one to inquire then, "What are we supposed to do? How do we… detach Adam's… energy from Gerard's?"

"We need to ward him off. He's doing it intentionally so we need something that'll protect you," Maria said. She got up and opened a drawer, removing a small black crystal from it. She held it tightly in her hand for a moment and mumbled a few words under her breath before handing it to Gerard, "This should send his curse right back to him. Keep it on you. Ask your mother to reinforce the protection spell on it."

Gerard nodded and put the crystal in his pocket right away. 

Maria continued, "There's someone else who needs protecting, too." She looked over at Frank and soon all eyes redirected to him. 

He looked confused, "Me?"

"Yes. When Adam realizes he can't curse Gerard without cursing himself, he'll go after the people Gerard loves. Going after Mikey or Donna is redundant as they're both witches and can ward off a curse - Donna could send back an even stronger curse. He's smarter than that." Maria reasoned, "He'll go after you because you're not a witch. You need to stay clever too."

Hayley chimed in, "Why don't ya just cast a protection spell on the lil' guy then?"

Maria smiled, "I might be older and more experienced, but the most powerful protection spell won't come from me. Not if Frank's the target. There's a witch in this room who could cast a protection spell on him a million times more powerful than any I could try."

"Gerard..." Ray mumbled under his breath. 

The witch remembered then. _A selfless spell cast with true love cannot be broken or thwarted._ The High Priestess didn't love Frank. If Gerard cast a spell to protect Frank from a curse, there was no curse in the world that could harm him. 

Instead of letting the realization sink in, Maria was quick to wrap up the discussion, "I believe that's all you came here for today?"

"Yeah..." Gerard answered quietly, still vaguely lost in thought. "Thanks, Maria."

"No problem, sweetheart. You and your..." she shot Frank a glance, _"friends_ can stop by anytime." The High Priestess stopped Gerard before he and his friends could get up and leave. "Actually, darling, would you mind if I borrowed your friend for a moment? It'll be just a second," she motioned for Frank to approach and follow her into another room. 

Frank felt confused but strangely, did not feel scared. He knew this woman was the most powerful witch Gerard knew, and that she was leading him into a dark room which appeared to be a study, but still, Frank couldn't find it in himself to feel even a hint of fear. 

"Take a seat at the desk, darling. It'll truly be just a moment," the woman said softly, almost as if trying to soothe the boy.

Frank did as he was told and slowly sat down. He assumed Maria would sit at the lounge chair on the other corner of the room but instead she approached him, placing a hand over his head and another directly over his heart. 

"I just wanted to ask you a question," Maria muttered, as if she wanted Frank to hear and Frank only. 

"What is it?"

She smiled down at him and asked, "Why, pray tell, is your brain trying to fight your heart, dear boy?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE writing Hayley. She literally just says whatever in this fic. 
> 
> A lot of things going on in this chapter! What do you guys think? It's a biiiig one!
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	16. Minerva

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minerva: Roman goddess of wisdom. Syncretized with the Greek goddess Athena.

Every now and then, we are posed with a question we are not prepared to answer just yet. A question that is not necessarily unanswerable, but a question we were simply not expecting, and thus, have no prepared answer for.

Frank Iero was currently on the end of such a question.

"What?" he blinked up at the witch, who still had a hand over his head and another over his heart. 

Maria smiled softly, "I know you heard me, darling. But I feel that you don't really want to tell me the answer." She reassured him, "It's okay, I'll do the talking then." The High Priestess crouched down and sat on her feet, leveling with the boy. "Your brain is fighting your heart, love. And I have somewhat of an inkling that it has to do with that cross you're wearing around your neck."

It was then that Maria reached forward - removing the hand that sat atop Frank's head - and held said cross, twirling it gently in between her fingers like the bead of a rosary. "You know, I'll ask you another question, then. An easier one. Do you believe God talks to us?"

"What..." Frank croaked, "what do you mean?"

"I mean… do you believe God talks to us? Not directly, per se, but through his creations?"

The Father at church had mentioned something like this before. At the memory, Frank nodded in agreement. 

Maria then grinned widely, "Then what, dear boy, could you possibly imagine as being more holy than the love that you feel?" 

It was like something inside Frank shifted at those words. It sounded like something so.... _obvious,_ and yet no one had put it quite that way before. Frank felt like his world was shifted upside down and yet, everything suddenly looked much clearer that way. Like it'd been upside down all along and now he had to get used to right-way-up.

The High Priestess looked at him straight in the eyes and pressed the hand on his chest even more firmly against his heart. "The love you feel is a gift from God, darling. The greatest gift of all. Don't reject it." Her pale blue eyes got a kind, emotional sparkle to them as she whispered, "And please, stop fighting it. You'll never win. You'll only hurt yourself and waste time that is more precious than you think."

Maria laughed softly under her breath and looked down for a moment, "Gerard will wait because love is simply patient like that. But how much longer do _you_ want to wait, sweetheart?"

Frank gulped and found the strength in himself to ask, "How do you know he'll wait?"

"I've known him since he was a boy, love. Although Michael is the most outwardly emotional one, do not mistake Gerard as cold. He has infinite warmth to give and is loyal to what he feels. And what he feels is you. He will wait as long as you need.” She then smirked, "I can feel that a part of you already knew this, though."

Frank felt himself blush but did not interrupt the witch.

"Speaking of Gerard, I used to tell him this as a child and I believe you should hear it too," the High Priestess continued. "A life without love is simply not one worth living. We have our own sayings about it in the craft but I'll relay it to you from your own books." It was then that Maria did the absolute last thing Frank expected a witch of her level to do. "Are you familiar with Peter, chapter four, verse eight?"

Frank couldn't help but feel his eyes widen impossibly. Was she quoting the _Bible_ at him? "Not by memory..." he ushered.

"Peter, chapter four, verse eight: _above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins."_

And even more strangely, Maria did not stop there. "And don't forget Colossians, chapter three, verses twelve through fourteen. _Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."_

When Maria was done with that verse, she let go of Frank's cross and returned her hand to rest over his head, "God put this love inside of you as a gift. Who are you to not allow it to live in you?" It was then that she quoted the Bible one final time, "John, chapter four, verse twelve: _No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us._ Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you, darling?"

Frank nodded _yes._

"No human is allowed to repress the love God has given you as a gift. The love you feel is infinitely more holy than the word of any person - even a priest or the humans who wrote your book." She tilted her head to the side gently, "Do you see why, now?"

Strangely, Frank felt like he did.

Maria must've sensed Frank's honesty, because she removed the hand that sat atop his heart and now twirled strands of his hair in both her hands, "Perfect," she said with a sense of finality. "Oh, and two things just before you go."

"Yes?"

The High Priestess giggled, "Stop worrying about that other boy. Gerard only has eyes for you. Trust my word; it is true. And lastly, my dear..."

He swallowed down nervously and forced himself to hum in question.

"Do Gerard a favor and tell him that you remember."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Gerard thought Frank looked a little different when they got home from the High Priestess' house.

"Are you okay?" he thought to ask the shorter boy, who was fidgeting with the cross on his neck absentmindedly. 

He looked up at Gerard and gave him a smile that was oddly genuine, "Yeah." He nodded just slightly, still pensive, "Yeah… I am."

Gerard quickly remembered something he'd been wanting to ask Frank, "Hey, uh… can I ask you for a favor?" When Frank simply raised an eyebrow in question, Gerard said, "Can I borrow your cross till Christmas?"

"My _cross?_ Until Christmas?" Frank frowned in confusion rather than sadness. "Why?"

"It's a surprise."

He crossed his arms and smiled at the other, "Gerard, Christmas is three weeks away! What do you need my cross for? And for so long?"

Gerard groaned jokingly and rolled his eyes, "I told you it's a surprise!” When Frank continued giving him that glare, still unimpressed, Gerard justified, “Well it won't be a surprise if I tell you, will it? I promise your cross will be returned to you perfectly fine. It'll look exactly like it does now.”

"You're gonna put a spell on it?" Frank surmised, holding said cross in his hand and looking at it with a sort of interest. 

"Maybe," Gerard answered cheekily. The charm he had in mind was definitely something Frank would love, and it physically hurt Gerard to not tell the other boy about the charm he had in mind already. 

Frank smirked, "What kind of spell?"

"Stop trying to ruin my Christmas surprise!" Gerard joked, "I'll hex you if you don't just shut up already and give me your cross."

For an understandable reason, Frank found this seemingly empty threat hilarious. "You'll hex me, will you?" he mocked. "Go on, Lord Voldemort. Hex me like one of your French girls."

Gerard knew Frank was trying to joke around and decided to indulge him. He raised a finger, "Hey! Let it be known that my witchcraft is now back to normal! I can hex you successfully if I want to." Although Gerard knew he could likely never properly hex Frank - as he couldn't imagine himself truly meaning the spell, thus rendering it powerless - he chose to assume Frank didn't know much about intent in witchcraft. 

The other boy didn't look too impressed, however. "Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow amusedly. "Hex me, then."

Gerard quickly thought of a harmless hex him and Mikey used to play around with as kids and recited it.

_To the forces of disease,  
tonight, hear me please.  
Be swift, be gentle,  
only make this person sneeze!_

As he had cast, Frank immediately sneezed, making the two of them laugh at the strange spell. "What the he-" Frank interrupted himself with another sneeze. "You have a-" _sneeze,_ "spell for-" _sneeze,_ "that?!" He looked like he was about to have a fit, laughing and sneezing all at the same time. Gerard couldn't help but laugh too, tears slowly welling up in both their eyes. 

"Gerard!" Frank exclaimed after he sneezed again. "Make it-" _sneeze,_ "stop!"

"Don't worry, it'll stop on its own after you sneeze ten times," Gerard reassured with a grin. 

Sure enough, Frank sneezed a few more times and then suddenly stopped, taking deep breaths as he calmed himself down. "I didn't imagine you'd ever have a sneezing hex," he heaved, a hand above his heart. He was still smiling, though, clearly having found the spell funny.

"Witches don't always want to hurt or maim people," Gerard shrugged. "Sometimes we just want to inconvenience them a little. Mikey and I used to prank each other with small hexes all the time as kids. It drove Mom nuts." That reminded Gerard of a funny story, "Oh my God, when he was like… twelve, Mikey got into trouble because he cast a hex so Mom would keep losing her keys."

Frank gasped, his eyes still wrinkled with laughter, "What did your mom do?"

"She hexed him back," Gerard said as if he were stating the obvious. "Did the same spell but with his glasses."

"Your mom is hilarious," Frank grinned. "Hey, Gerard," he abruptly redirected the conversation, "I need to ask you something." When the other boy responded with a questioning hum, Frank timidly asked, "Um… who exactly is Adam?"

Oh God. Gerard had come this far without explicitly coming out to Frank, but now that the boy was actually becoming indirectly involved with Adam himself, Gerard thought Frank at least deserved to know who the guy really was.

Gerard took a deep calming breath before answering sincerely, “He’s my ex. I won't tell you the whole story because it'll probably piss you off to hear how much I was an idiot back then, but just know that he was a piece of shit. And now he’s still a piece of shit because… he cursed me to make my magic work in reverse.”

Frank nodded slowly for a few moments, taking the information in, before asking, “And he was a witch?”

“Yeah,” Gerard found himself sighing in relief when Frank’s reaction was nothing but calm and understanding. “He was part of our coven but Maria kicked him out.”

“Why was he kicked out?” 

The taller boy scratched the back of his neck. “He… uh… threatened to curse other coven members like Mikey, my mom, and Maria." He recalled, "We were already reevaluating his position in the coven before that but once he started making those kinds of threats, he was banned from the coven forever." 

"Wow..." Frank's face was contorted into a scowl, "I'm sorry that happened to you." 

Gerard shrugged, "It's alright. I'm safe with Maria's crystal now." Now that he put that thought out into the universe, Gerard was reminded of the protection spell he needed to cast on Frank now that the curse was being warded off him. "Frankie, speaking of, I need to put a protection spell on you." He raised a finger, "Just a second, I need to grab my mom's stuff for the spell upstairs."

Frank smiled at Gerard and watched him leave, waiting until his footsteps stopped echoing through the staircase. He remembered to remove his cross and place it on Gerard's bedside table before he saw the other boy's phone on the wooden surface. For a brief moment, Frank reconsidered what he wanted to do, but when the High Priestess' words rang back and forth inside his head, Frank decided it was about time to reach out to someone else. Someone like him.

He picked up Gerard's phone and tried to unlock it, immediately being met with a password. What password would Gerard put on his phone? Frank thought he seemed like the person to use a simple, straightforward password. He tried entering Gerard's birthday and to his surprise, the phone was immediately unlocked. 

Frank also told himself to one day remind Gerard to put a better password on his phone.

Without wasting any time, Frank opened Gerard's contacts and looked for the name he was searching for. He didn't have to scroll very far to find the exact person he needed to find, and quickly copied down the series of digits onto his own phone. It was then that Frank heard Gerard's footsteps start to come back down towards the basement, and as he rushed to put the taller boy's phone back right where it belonged, Frank had the strange thought that something was changing.

"Alright, I got all the stuff," Gerard announced, placing an open worn-out notebook on his desk alongside some candles. The witch looked down at the notebook to read something before smiling at the other, "Just sit down on the floor and I'll do everything."

Frank did as he was told and sat cross-legged on Gerard's bedroom floor. Once he was in the indicated spot, Gerard started laying out the candles in a circular shape around him, lighting them one by one. When he finished lighting the candles, Gerard looked back at Frank and asked, "Are you ready?"

The shorter boy smiled, "Yeah."

And for some reason, Frank felt like he was ready in more ways than one.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Hayley sat in her apartment applying maybe the sixth or seventh makeup look of the afternoon. After being successful with her last smokey-eyed elegant look, the young woman decided to try something a little more vibrant. She opened a few eyeshadow palettes to search for the bright yellow and pink shades she wanted, but once Hayley realized the palettes she needed were still stowed away in one of her bags somewhere, she groaned to herself before getting up off the vanity, bracing herself for the long search ahead.

Although Hayley wouldn't love admitting it, her small L.A. apartment was a hot mess - and that was the most _generous_ way to describe it. She still hadn't unpacked all her stuff after moving down from Berkeley, so most of her belongings were stowed away in random bags and cardboard boxes. 

The blonde girl opened up the first box to appear in her way to find a multitude of pots and pans. Alright… definitely not in there. Next, she opened up a bag to find it was stuffed with jackets and other garments she had purchased for the chilly Northern California winters. Alright… definitely not in there either. After searching in multiple boxes and bags to find random items like the various parts of a dismounted desk chair, multiple sets of bras and panties, and even the gown she wore for her sweet sixteen, Hayley finally found her bag of eyeshadow palettes. 

She laughed triumphantly - palettes in hand - and hurried back to the vanity, getting started on the look she had in mind. The vanity was indeed the only piece of furniture in the apartment that was built to completion, but hey, don't judge Hayley. We all have priorities. 

After applying a solid layer of hot pink to her eyelid with her index finger, Hayley dipped into a bright yellow with her pinky, applying it carefully to the inner corner of her eye. Once that was done and she thought both her eyes looked to be matching, Hayley picked up a small brush and began blending out the pink. After struggling with that for a few moments - for some reason, this pink shade just wasn't producing a nice fade - Hayley dipped into a darker pink powder and blended it out carefully, this time humming happily at her success. 

As she was about halfway done with her eyeliner, however, Hayley heard the sound of her phone ring. She slowly looked at the screen - taking care to not ruin her liner - to see an unknown number.

Weird.

Hayley picked up the phone with a confused expression, "Hello?"

To her surprise, the voice on the phone was one she recognized. "Hi, uh… this is Hayley, right?"

Hayley couldn't hold back the grin that showed up on her face then, "Damn right. What can I do for ya, little peach?" 

"Um… can I come over?"

She rolled her eyes before answering, "Ya think I got a thumpin' gizzard for a heart?" Hayley could tell the other end of the line was occupied by a puzzled silence, so she simply opted to say, "I'll text you my address," and hung up.

Indeed, it wasn't long before someone rang the doorbell. Hayley opened the door with a smile, "Well, heavens to Betsy, it really is you, little peach!" She reached forward and patted the boy outside on the head. "Why don't ya come inside? Make yourself at home," she offered kindly.

However, once Frank stepped inside, his face quickly fell into a frown. "Uh… where exactly _can_ I make myself at home?" he asked, stepping cautiously over several boxes, trying not to trip himself up.

"Oh," Hayley laughed and slapped her own forehead, "sorry, sweet thing. Ya see, I haven't gotten around to buildin' my furniture yet. So you can… um… sit right there!" she pointed at the only fully assembled chair in the apartment, which was right in front of the busy vanity. 

Frank slowly made his way to the vanity and sat down. "So, um..." 

Before he could properly speak, Hayley was quick to interrupt him, "Y'know..." she grabbed Frank's chin and looked down at him with her eyebrows taut. After examining his features for a long moment, she started, "Your bone structure is simply perfect!" Hayley then interrupted herself with a giggle, "Sorry, I know ya must be tired of me gawkin' over your face," she said in a rapid-fire fashion, "but your face is just so perfect!"

"Thanks?"

Hayley forcefully turned Frank's head to one side and then the other, "So symmetrical too!" She pulled his chin to look at his jaw, "Your jaw is perfect as well! Nice 'n sharp!" Without thinking, Hayley proceeded to say, "Y'know, I've always wanted a male model for my drawings since I can just base my female ones off myself, and you'd be just the perfect model! Are ya shy when it comes to bein' shirtless or naked? I could..." When Frank looked at her with an aghast expression, she retreated, "My bad, peach. That was too much, wasn't it? Sorry." Hayley removed her hand from Frank's face and smiled down at him, "You must'a come here for somethin'. What do ya need?"

After taking a moment to absorb the words being thrown in his direction, Frank nodded, "Uh… yeah."

"What is it, sweetheart?"

Frank looked around for a moment before shyly telling her, "Um… I think I need your help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for the love on the last chapter!! It got the most kudos and comments out of any chapter before!!! THANK YOU!!! <333
> 
> Anyways, what did you guys think of what Maria said to Frank? How's he doing in your minds? And what does he need Hayley for? :) 
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


	17. Jesus of Nazareth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You guys know who tf Jesus is but just for consistency...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus of Nazareth: the central holy figure of the Christian faith and most Christian denominations, such as Catholicism. Son of the Virgin Mary and God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, as a messiah of the Old Testament. Also known as Jesus Christ, Yeshua, the Lamb of God, along with various other names.
> 
> **CW: brief mentions of racism.**

"My help?" Hayley tried to put on a surprised expression. "What on earth for, peach?"

In all honesty, the young woman knew exactly what this was about. However, just for a moment, Hayley thought it would be more interesting - and better for Frank's confidence - to play the fool. 

Frank was quick to divert his gaze from her and look away. He reached down to his cross to fidget with it nervously as he quietly told her, "Um… so… I think it's better if I ask you the questions."

"Then get off the hot seat, big man," Hayley said playfully as she pushed the boy off the vanity and sat on it herself, now remembering that her makeup was incomplete once she looked in the mirror. Frank fumbled around for a few moments before eventually deciding to sit on the floor a few feet away, his knees firmly against his chest. The young woman grabbed a large fluffy brush and opened up a palette of what Frank could see were different shades of beiges and browns. "So," she started, patting her face with various powders absentmindedly, "what's on your mind, peach?"

"Uh..." Frank chuckled awkwardly. "Remember when you mentioned your family that time we met?"

Hayley hummed, "Mhm," her eyes still glued to her reflection. 

"Can you… tell me more about them?" Frank asked through what Hayley could hear what a thick veil of timidness. "I mean," he elaborated, "you seem so confident and, like… you grew up somewhere that was so..." Frank paused for a few seconds as if searching for the right word before landing on, "... unsupportive."

"Well..." Hayley seemed to ponder on that question for a few moments - still focused on her own makeup in the mirror and patting at her face with her brush - before starting, "A good friend'a mine once told me that you should never take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from."

Frank smiled, "Was it Ray?"

Hayley turned to look at him and laughed, "Yea! How did ya guess?"

The boy shrugged from the floor, "It's very smart. Sounds like something he would say."

"Well, darlin'," Hayley turned back to look at herself in the mirror and grabbed a small pink powder, dabbing it gently on her cheeks, "like usual, Ray is right about that. And when I started thinkin'..." her eyes got a saddened yet reflective look then, "thinkin' about all the different things they believe… it made me realize that I can't take advice from them. Much less criticism!"

"I remember you said they still fly the Confederate flag," Frank added pensively.

Hayley briefly looked at him through the mirror and rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "Exactly, peach. Would ya take advice from someone who doesn't even believe something like _slavery_ was bad?" When Frank shook his head _no,_ Hayley added, "Just right! So why should I let them tell me who I can and can't love?" She huffed, "If they can't even find it in themselves to love people who are different, I can love whoever damn well my heart wants."

Frank was silent for a few moments before he nodded slowly, "I think I understand. I guess..." he trailed off and seemed to pluck up the courage to say, "I guess I need to start feeling the same way."

"Well, hun, I can't tell ya how to feel." Hayley then raised the handle of her brush, "But, I _can_ tell ya somethin'." She took a deep breath and shot Frank a small smile, "They say ya need to appreciate your family ‘cause you only got one. And I need ya to listen to me when I tell ya that ain't the damn truth."

"What..?"

"I mean… our families aren't given to us just once, peach," she laughed and started patting her whole face with a pale, nearly white powder. "Family ain't just who has your blood. It's who you love and who you choose to call your family as well. My family ain't just the one that I got back in Tennessee. It's Ray and Gee too. My friends from beauty school… it's everyone I love. As long as ya love someone, and they love ya too, you got a family and a home."

Frank seemed confused, "A home?"

Hayley sassed lightheartedly, "Home don't have to be no damn place. It's a feeling. Where ya feel like you belong. Sometimes it's a place, but sometimes it's a hobby, and sometimes..." she smirked smugly and stared straight at Frank, "it's a person."

The boy seemed to feel targeted and his eyes widened for a moment before he laughed off casually, "I think I get it."

"If ya don't get it, don't get your knickers in a knot, ya will very soon," she said knowingly, her eyes glued to the mirror again.

"How do you know that?"

Hayley smiled but didn't take her eyes off her reflection, "’Cause if you weren't close to gettin' it, ya wouldn't have come here."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Pete's biology exam was coming closer day by day. 

This became clear in his rising anxiety during his tutoring sessions with Gerard, who tried his best to assure the boy he would in fact pass. In spite of knowing he’d improved, Pete still knew that he'd started pretty much at _zero,_ which clearly did not help him feel very confident regarding the exam.

"I mean, I'm fairly sure you're gonna pass, man," Gerard reassured the boy, who was crouched over his textbook with a panicked expression on his face.

He turned to Gerard and gave him a sardonic smile, "Thanks, dude. _Fairly sure._ That's real nice."

"Hey!" Gerard exclaimed. "Listen, you've come very far from our first session. I know that because in our first session, you didn't even know what a mitochondrion was. Now look at you. You know the difference between respiration and photosynthesis, right?" Pete nodded solemnly at that but said nothing in response. "See? Just think of how far you came from that first time I tutored you."

"I guess you're right." 

"Yeah," Gerard said encouragingly, "I am. Think about it, man. You know so much more content than you did a few weeks ago. You've worked hard and there's obviously gonna be a payoff." He reasoned, "I'm pretty sure you're at least at Mikey's level, and he's been passing bio just fine."

That seemed to actually alleviate some of Pete's anxiety, because the boy took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks."

"No problem," Gerard shot him a small tight-lipped smile. "Anyways… I dug around the study for a bit and I actually found some of my old bio notes from high school," he opened up a folder and produced various sheets of paper. "I separated some of my notes on the topics you were struggling with the most."

Pete's jaw dropped and he gently picked up the papers, looking at them to find they indeed were filled with notes. "Woah..." he whispered in awe. The boy turned back to Gerard and said sincerely, "Thank you."

Gerard shrugged, "It's no big deal. It was probably gonna go in the trash eventually since I'm not gonna use them anymore."

"Mikey doesn't need them?" Pete wondered.

"He has his own because I took AP and he doesn't. And none of us are going to college for science anyways," Gerard elaborated, assuring Pete the notes definitely would not be missed in the Way residence.

At that, a doubt seemed to pop up in the other boy's head. "What _are_ you going to college for?"

"I… uh..." Gerard stuttered, "I don't really know yet. I wanna stay in L.A., but besides that, I don't have any major in mind."

It was true. Gerard's college application deadlines were approaching fast, and the young man seriously had no idea what he wanted to study. He had interests, sure - he did enjoy biology quite a lot back in high school - but none of them seemed to _fit._ Gerard couldn't imagine himself as a biologist of any sorts. He did love animals and got along quite well with them, especially those commonly kept as familiars by witches, such as cats, ravens, spiders, and the like, but what could be done with that? Gerard was definitely too squeamish to be a vet. 

Pete was the one to reassure him this time, "Hey, lots of colleges let you go in undeclared and let you choose your major along the way. I know a lot of the big colleges like UCLA and USC do."

Gerard huffed, _"Come on,_ what are my odds of getting into any of those?"

"You won't know unless you try it," Pete argued. Why the fuck was he making good, rational arguments all of a sudden? Where was this rational side of Pete when it was time to study biology? Why were his brain cells only activated when it was time to be an annoying private school smartass?

He was, however, right. "Whatever," Gerard muttered.

Pete persisted, "I think you should apply." He then reasoned, "Because… think about it. If you _don't_ apply, what else are you gonna do? Go on a second gap year? Live in your mom's basement forever and wander around your adult life like a lost fart?"

It was a little harsh, but it was also true. Gerard knew college wasn't obligatory, but he _did_ want to go. He just had absolutely no idea what it was he wanted to study.

"Hey, I'm the one meant to be tutoring you," Gerard frowned. "Not the other way around."

"You're tutoring me in bio, but I can be your little… life coach," Pete retorted cleverly. "That was a free trial, by the way."

God. Why was this guy such an insufferable smartass? Life coach? _Bullshit… life coach,_ Gerard thought, biting back his tongue to avoid voicing those thoughts out. The worst part was that Pete could probably make a career off that in Southern California - Los Angeles was unfortunately one of those places where people could make money off of virtually anything if they marketed themselves to the right people. 

Gerard ultimately decided to divert the conversation, "How about we go back to the part where I'm helping you learn about the circulatory system?"

Pete smirked and narrowed his eyes slightly, but still gave in. "Sure thing."

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Mikey and Kristin sat on her bed at her university dorm, their eyes glued to a small television at the desk otherwise covered in miscellaneous math books. The two of them were in complete silence, watching as the last batter of the final inning ran from base to base. Mikey could've sworn that they weren't even _breathing,_ the silence so tense that the boy swore he could hear his own heartbeat if it weren't for the game's narrator enthusiastically recounting the events of the game.

"Come _on..."_ Kristin gritted anxiously through her teeth, her entire body lunging towards the television.

Mikey clutched his soda in his hand and watched as the player narrowly avoided getting striked out, passing through second base a split-second before the opposing team striked the base. "He's gonna make it to third..." he uttered under his breath, praying that whatever good luck charm he had cast would actually work in his team's favor.

The pair continued watching nervously as the player approached third base, eventually rushing straight past it, still not striked out. Kristin gasped and brought her hand to cover her mouth. "Oh God, he's gonna make it!" she announced, her voice muffled by her hand.

"He's gonna get a home run..." Mikey gaped in awe. 

They watched in silence for a few seconds before the man on the screen reached the home base, the game narrator immediately announcing the Dodgers' triumph over the rival team. Mikey and Kristin both erupted into victorious screeches, reaching forward to hug each other without second thought.

"Holy shit!" Mikey grinned.

"Right?!"

The boy laughed and withdrew from the hug, looking straight at Kristin, who smiled right back at him. "I can't believe he got that home run!"

She concurred, "Me either! On the last bat of the game too! I can't believe they didn't strike him out!"

"I know, it was fucking insane!" Mikey cackled in disbelief. For a few moments, the pair sat in a comfortable silence, beaming joyfully at each other. This was so crazy. Alicia had never bothered to watch a game with Mikey, calling the sport boring and even occasionally encouraging him to miss a game to do something else. And now, here he sat, just having watched a baseball game with a girl who not only enjoyed it, but seemed to be just as invested in the sport as he was. 

Kristin's smile slowly faded, however, as her eyes seemed to gloss over Mikey's sharp features. She took a long time to look at his face, almost seeing to analyze it. "Can I kiss you?" Kristin then suddenly asked, sounding like she had blurted out the words randomly rather than having actually planned it.

Mikey stared back at her in shock. He blinked at Kristin a few times almost as if struggling to process the question, his eyes wide and his lips parted gently. There was a split second in which it appeared like Kristin was going to apologize for asking, but the girl bravely stood her ground, not taking her question back. It seemed like the two of them agreed on it then, because Mikey held her gaze steadily and slowly nodded. 

Sweetly, Kristin shot Mikey a small smile before leaning forward and pressing her lips to his, gentle but still bold and confident - like she was sure of not only her own emotions, but that they were reciprocated. Mikey briefly had the thought that something warm seemed to fill his chest as the blonde girl kissed him, his ears also going hot when she reached up to cradle his face with her hands. Oh God. Mikey could feel his face rapidly going a bright red. Why was this happening? Mikey hadn't felt a fraction of this timidness back when he was with Alicia. 

Before he could figure anything out, the two of them heard the door open, pulling apart when another young woman suddenly walked into the dorm. She froze right where she stood when she spotted Mikey and Kristin, but rather than bolting, the other girl simply raised her hands defensively and said, "Sorry, um… just here to get my computer. Don't mind me."

As promised, the girl quickly grabbed a laptop which sat atop a bed on the opposite side of the room. She winked cheekily at Kristin and whispered, _"atta girl!"_ before exiting the dorm, leaving the two of them alone again.

"Sorry about that," Kristin giggled nervously. "That was just my roommate."

Mikey laughed awkwardly too, "Uh… it's okay."

The pair stared at each other for a few moments again before Kristin smiled - this time not awkwardly, but rather happily, like she felt pleased with herself for having kissed Mikey. She bit her lip through her grin and asked, "You wanna watch the postgame interviews or kiss me again?"

"Um…" Mikey looked down and felt his entire face heat up, "whichever one you want."

The last thing Mikey felt before Kristin kissed him again was the front of his jersey getting yanked forward.

─────•~❉᯽❉~•─────

Frank ran into Gerard's bedroom the next Friday evening looking like he'd just been charged with a murder he did not commit. When Gerard looked at the shorter boy to see his fully panicked expression, he was quick to ask, "What's wrong, Frankie?"

He gulped and announced, "I have bad news." Frank looked at Gerard, his expression aghast, _"Horrible_ news."

"Frankie, what is it?" Gerard got up off his bed and approached the boy, who still stood at the door frame, his face pale like all the blood had been drained from it. "Are you hurt?! Did someone hurt you?" he scanned the boy for any injuries but Frank looked to be physically fine, if not for his labored breathing. 

"No..." Frank shook his head and frowned, "worse."

Now Gerard was seriously concerned. _"Worse?!"_ He felt himself start to panic when an idea occurred to him, "Oh God, Frankie, is it a curse?!" he exclaimed. "Do you feel sick? Or tired? Have you seen any vultures or any sort of bad omen?!" Gerard spat out in a rapid-fire fashion. "What about your parents? Are they getting ill? Have any of you had any sort of near death experience lately?! Anything whatsoever that could indicate you've been cursed? Have you been having nightmares or anything like that?!"

"No," Frank shook his head again. He looked somewhere behind Gerard and got a petrified look on his face, "This is definitely worse than a curse."

 _Worse than a curse?_ What could've possibly happened to Frank that was worse than a goddamn _curse?_ Had Frank been expelled from high school? No, Gerard knew Frank was far too self-disciplined to let that happen. Had someone close to him possibly passed away? Or been diagnosed with a terminal illness? 

Gerard grabbed Frank by the shoulders and forced the shorter boy to look at him. "Frankie, what the fuck happened?!"

Frank stared back at the taller boy and fearfully told him what had him so worried.

"My parents want to have dinner with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Mikey actually predicted a lot of the plot! Like the story has revealed, he's clairvoyant, and in 2 instances, he actually said exactly what was gonna happen before it happened for real! In chapter 7, Mikey says to Gerard "you think he [Frank] is just gonna, what? Climb on your lap and make out with you?" which is EXACTLY what happens in chapter 10. 
> 
> And all the way back in chapter 1, Mikey predicted that something was off about Gerard's energy when he said "your vibes are wack" lol! This is your hint to look carefully at what Mikey says 0.0 himbo man speaks either nonsense or... prophecy.
> 
> Anyways, BIG EVENT COMING! Time to meet the parents! How will Gerard do? :) heheheh
> 
> Stay fabulous,  
> -Venom  
> Tumblr: [thepoisonpills](https://thepoisonpills.tumblr.com/)


End file.
